Anatomization and Networking
by Lialee Ederian
Summary: Where there are brains, there is strength, and Quirky Analyst has plenty of both. (He's going to take the world by storm and they won't know what hit 'em.)
1. Introducing: Quirky Analyst

**[A/N: Hey. This is going to be very sporadic in it's updates, but I so wanted to do a quirk analysis fanfiction. So here it is.**

**Also. I did not know who was going to contact him first. I thought All Might, but well... This happened instead. And obviously, some things may not be accurate to canon but I say lets do it anyway! Haha.**

**Thanks for reading. There'll be fewer A/Ns from now on, I hope. Because I personally don't adore them. Unless they give crucial information or are hilariously funny or something equally inspiring. So yeah. That's it. See you lter withy probably-in-a-year update!**

**Don't hope for more and you'll get pleasantly surprised if i do end up posting beforehand. ]**

* * *

_"Hey... Um, this is Quirky Analyst." _A small, clumsy, modified voice squeaked out and cleared his throat. _"Sorry. This- this is my first video." _He laughed nervously. _"Ha... So I'm making this for- erm... T- to analyse quirks."_

The black screen turned grey and various hand drawn cartoons appeared. One was a silhouette with his hands sparking, another had water flying around them. Of the last two on the sides, one had wings and the other had flowers popping up around them.

In the middle, of course was a silhouette of All Might.

Quirky Analyst's voice came back on. _"I- I'm a bit nervous so I decided to not show my fa- face. So, uh..."_ He coughed. _"Um, quirks. I guess people might be wondering why I'm doing this. As long as I remember, I've loved quirks. I mean,"_ he gushed excitedly. _"They're amazing! You can do anything with them!"_

The screen shifted to a clearly amateurish video edit that compiled twenty or so videos of people using quirks in various ways, not just for hero work.

_"I know a lot of Quirk Analysis has already been done, but I really only found one or two series in video form and they we're incomplete or discontinued. Plus, they we're either really general or just about heroes. Of course, I love heroes, but I thought of not doing heroes because, well..."_ There was a shuffling sound in the background. _"Analyzing heroes may put them at a disadvantage if any villains see these videos. But I still wanted to do them, so I decided I'll do some analysis of villains! And if someone has any requests, please message me. I'd love to analyse other quirks as well if you're willing to have them shown on this site!"_

The black screen returned and letters began appearing on it with a 'slam' sound effect.

It read,** 'Analysis no. 1 - Lizard Kong'**

_"So,"_ Quirky Analyst continued, his voice gaining a professional ramble. _"Lizard Long is currently in prison, but I decided to start with him because he has a lot of information on him, and that gives me a lot to work with. First of all, let's begin with a basic background..."_

The video continued on, detailing the back story, the villain origins, the way Lizard Kong became number ten on the villain list once and how he was captured after nearly a decade of freedom.

All throughout, short clips of Lizard Kong's fights would play, and at other points, detailed sketches of himself and his quirk that seemed very realistic.

The video continued for nearly half an hour, was amateurish and not amazingly articulated, and the narrator also stuttered a lot.

Iida Tensei stared at it and grinned. It was amazing. He'd been searching up quirk analysis websites to try to see if there could be anything he could do to become better at his job (heroics was a never-ending battle to the top) and he had stumbled upon this childish seeming video that was much more comprehensive it it's information than any other he'd come across. Quirky Analyst seemed like an amazing person. It felt like he was a young child, from the way he spoke to the way he replied to the few comments under his post, but the depth in his arguments and his out of the box approach enthralled him.

He looked at the view count. Only a few hundreds? That wouldn't do.

He scrolled to the top of the page and clicked on Quirky Analyst's profile. The Herotube account popped up with little resistance. Quirky had posted a few more sporadic videos, all of them about villains Tensei could recognize, two of whom had yet to be caught.

Tensei narrowed his eyes. If this information was useful... He quickly forwarded the relevant videos to edgeshot, who he was currently working with, with message stating, 'Just ignore the childishness and focus on the content. Tell me what you think." He also saved them to his account to watch later.

Then he shot off a personal message to the creator.

**'Hello. I am the newly debuted hero Ingenium, Quirky Analyst. I saw you video and was very impressed. I know you already stated you would not do any segments on heroes, but would you be willing to do a quirk analysis for me? Privately? In exchange, I'm willing to pay a commission as well as share your account to my followers so that your talents are revealed to the world as well.'**

The message instantly turned green. He had read it.

_'ajdhdjcjnoow'_

Tensei frowned._ '_**Excuse me?'**

_'Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!' _Quirky Analyst typed out._ 'I accidentally slammed the keyboard!!!'_

Tensei snorted. Well, the boy _had_ said he was a hero fan.** 'No worries, kid. Take your time.'**

_'No! I mean, I'd love the chance to analyze your quirk! And you don't need to pay me. Talking to you is more than enough!'_

This time, he burst out laughing, but sobered enough to type a reply.** 'The commission part is non-negotiable. I can't take advantage of a fan just because they allow me to. If I did, I wouldn't be a hero.'**

_'__Oh...'_

Tensei waited.

_'How will you pay me though? I don't have a bank account.'_

Tensei hummed. **'How about I help you set up an untraceable bank account, then? It won't give away your identity, since you seem worried about that, and if some other people end up asking you for private analyses, they can pay you through that.'**

_'REALLY'_ The kid burst. _'THAT SOUNFS Amazing!!!'_

_'Sounds*'_ He corrected._ 'Amazing*'_

Tensei grinned. _'Great. How about I get back to you soon?'_

_'Okay! Thank you!'_

Tensei closed Herotube and grinned. Sweet kid.

His phone buzzed. Edgeshot.

He picked up.

_"Where did you find these?"_ The other hero asked without delay._"T__his thing just gave a great counter idea for ToeTrack. How the heck did you find this guy?"_

Tensei laughed. "I have my secrets." he answered. "So we're going after him tomorrow?"

_"Yeah. Better earlier. He might run from his current hideout if we don't act soon."_

"Got it. See you, Edge."

_"Ingenium."_

The phone dial rang.

The call cut off.

Tensei sighed. Time to see how accurate Quirky's analysis was.

* * *


	2. A Tensei Interval

The bound and gagged figure of the villain sat unconscious in the police car, quirk suppressants on his wrists.

The door shut, and he was driven away.

Edgeshot whistled. "Well, that was surprisingly easy. Your source was dead on, Ingenium. "

Tensei stared at the retreating car with something akin to incredulity. "I... I was sure QA had _some_ points correct, but to this extent...?"

Edge sobered and shot a look at his partner. "... You don't think he's a villain?"

Tensei flinched, but composed himself, if racing his mind to go over his interactions with the analyst. "No," He murmured. "QA is a kid and he didn't know enough to be considered an accomplice. Plus, all he does know, it clearly shows he's only seen the quirks he's analysing on television or in some of the hero fights on the streets." He laughed, and his rapidly beating heart slowed. "He's also too much of a hero fan."

Edge rubbed the back of his head. "If you say so." He held out a hand towards Tensei. "Pleasure working with you, Ingenium. Tell me if the kid posts something relevant again, will you?"

Tensei nodded. "Great working with you, too."

* * *

There was a relief Tensei felt when he reached his agency that night. Although out of his three sidekicks, two had already cleared out, NomNom was there to manage the place alongside the two work experience high schoolers who always stayed till the end.

"Hey," Tensei greeted, stepping inside.

NomNom grinned. "'Lo, Engine. How did it go?"

Tensei smiled. "It was alright. We got ToeTrack."

NomNom took out a bite of a steel can. "I told you so."

Tensei laughed. "Where are the kids?"

NomNom pointed to the snack room, in which he had installed a vending machine, because why not. "Hazard's over there. Not sure about Lemil."

Tensei nodded. "Okay. Thanks. You can have a break if you want."

NomNom shrugged. "No need. I can go for another few hours."

Tensei hummed and ambled over to the snack room. Inside, glaring daggers at the vending machine was the 16 year old boy who'd applied for a position earlier this year. He was officially called Hazardmire, but here, they had decided to go with Hazard only. Well, NomNom had begun doing it and the rest had followed.

"Trying to destroy the evil stored within?" Tensei asked, eyes sparkling.

Hazard jumped back. "In- In- Ingenium-san!" He squeaked. "You're back!"

Tensei laughed. Hazard's actions reminded him of Quirky. "I am. How did your day go? Did Allyer and Metal Work treat you guys well?"

Hazard inhaled deeply and nodded. "Yeah.

It was pretty cool. Did you get the villain?"

"I did. Did you manage to finish your requirements?"

"Yeah! They were fun. Do you have anymore?" He asked excitedly.

Tensei sighed. "Sorry, kid. Your week with me is almost over."

Hazard's face fell. "I was hoping I wouldn't be reminded of that."

Tensei reached and ruffled his hair. "Hey. Don't worry. You're training to be a hero, right? It's not like we won't meet each other again."

Hazard's frown tilted. "Ah... Can I come to your agency when I graduate, Ingenium-san?"

Tensei blinked in surpexclaimed, agency? He hadn't thought... "If you still want to after you graduate," he compromised. "We'll welcome you with open arms."

Hazard grinned. "Awesome!"

The door flew open behind them. "Sir!" An exuberant voice exclaimed and both hero and student turned to see the smiling face of a tall blond. "I'm done with the tasks! And Metal Work said to talk to you about asking for pointers on my quirk."

Tensei grinned. "Lemillion, one of my favorites! Please rest."

Hazard burst out laughing.

Lemillion, better known as Togata Mirio, blushed. "Er, but we should make the best of the time we have here!"

Tensei hummed. "Wasting time is bad, but so is exhausting yourself. Come on, let's go to my office." He waved to Hazard. "Go accompany NomNom. I feel she's bored today."

Hazard shivered. "On it."

Mirio's smile wavered as he began to follow Tensei.

"... Am I in trouble?" He asked quietly, a smile - though wavering - still on his face as he lowered himself down onto the chair.

Tensei rested his feet on the table. "Of course not." He soothed, flashes of his much more serious younger brother creeping in tot he picture. "I just want to chat."

"Oh." Mirio looked around, rubbing the back of his head. "What about?"

"Hmm," Tensei tapped his desk. "What's your plan for the sports festival? Aiming for the top spot?"

Mirio's smile widened. "Yes! The classes are very competitive so I need to do my best to catch up, but I'm aiming to save a million lives, so I need to get to the top!"

Tensei laughed. "Very nice. I'll be rooting for you."

Mirio grinned. "I wanted to ask, Ingenium-san, can you please tell me how I should improve my quirk usage? I'm... Well, I'm not very food at it."

"Permeation is hard to use?"

"Yes. I can't get the control I want with it and all the research I managed to do requires fine control. So, could you maybe give some pointers? Metal Work said you helped your sidekicks with a bit of stuff."

Tensei let his eyes wander, his mind mulling over the possibilities. Permeation... The quirk was so very different from his own speed based quirk, so he didn't know-

He shot up, eyes widening. "QA!" He announced.

Mirio furrowed his brow. "What?"

Tensei rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, sorry. I remembered a quirk analyst I was talking to a few days back. Do you want to ask him perhaps? "

Mirio bit his lip. "... Aren't they expensive?"

Tensei shook his hand. "Don't worry about that. I'm your mentor this week, remember?"

"I couldn't-"

"You're not." Tensei cut off. "Besides, I've already commissioned him for one analysis. What's two?"

Mirio opened his mouth, then shut it in bewilderment.

Tensei grinned, and reached over to ruffle his hair. "Tell me your email. I'll forward it to QA."

Mirio nodded. "I'll message it to you."

"Great," Tensei flickered his eyes to the clock. "It's getting late. You should grab Hazard and go rest. We've got a full day tomorrow."

Mirio nodded.

Tensei turned to his laptop and flipped it open, logging into his herotube account. There were three unread messages from Quirky Analyst.

Tensei rises an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting any so soon...

_'I saw the news!'_ The first one said. _'Congratulations on getting ToeTrack.'_

Tensei snorted.

_'I also completed your analysis. Haha, I got a bit excited so I did it in a night. Where should I send it?'_

_'Don't worry! It's not incomplete or anything. I already had a bit of notes on your quirk so I compounded on them. But, I mean, if you want me to redo it, I can do some more?'_

Tensei let a fond smile stretch across his teeth. The kid wouldn't survive business if he let people take advantage of him with words like that.

**'Thanks,'** He typed. **'You can send me the file at '**

He hesitated. **'I'll have your account set up soon. And a PO box at the GPO. I'll PM you the number and you can pick everything up. I won't be watching it, don't worry, but if you are, have it changed. You can change the details for your bank account later as well. Also please send me an electronic bill as well. I need to file it under official costs.'**

He waited for a few minutes, but it seemed Quirky was going to remain offline for a while.** 'I would also like to commission you for another quirk. Please tell me whatever details you will need.'**

The messages remained unread. Tensei sighed. Well, he'd wait for the morning - QA _was, _after all, a kid. And it was way past bedtime.

* * *

**So. I added OCs. And Mirio.****.****.****. **

**What? I love the guy. He's awesome. And my poor Ixuku needs all the uplift he can get.****So does Mirio, here.**

**(I just noticed i put 'x' instead of 'z' and it looks cool! Tacky, but cool.)**

**More Chapters to come. **


	3. Excitement

**A REVEAL**

* * *

Midoriya Izuku woke up blearily, his alarm ringing with the sound of All Might's laughter.

He blinked as he stared up at the ceiling. Sunday. The best and worst day of the week.

"Izuku!" His mother called from downstairs. "Come for breakfast soon!"

"Hai!" He called back, his voice carrying.

He snuggled back into the warm comforter. Ugh. Bed was so comfortable. Why?

Moments later, guilt began to eat away at his conscience and he sighed, throwing off the covers.

Rise and shine.

His computer was still lit up from the video he had been editing. He still wasn't good at it, but he had been trying. His latest video had garnered more views than the other ones. Then again, it had been about one of the few female villains who were really known by society. Most of the important ones were usually male.

Her quirk had been really fun to dissect.

Matter Breakdown.

He hadn't really been able to find out if he was correct, but from the videos he had watched, 'Broken' (supposedly a pun name, because she always burst out laughing when introducing herself as "Hello, I'm broken.") had very good control over the range and strength of her. She had to have contact, but it seemed she didn't have to have direct touch. One object away seemed to work as well, though her limit seemed to be a couple of kilos.

Izuku shook his head. He'd already said all of that on the video. He didn't need to hash it all out again.

Unless...

His eyes widened. Hand Limitations! Did Broken have that? He needed to rewatch all her videos and find out, because if she did have that sort of limit, the heroes' jobs just got a lot easier.

He grinned. He was glad he had been able to assist ToeTrack's capture. The tactics Ingenium and Edgeshot had used were exactly the ones he had outlined in his video.

He blushed. Ingenium and Edgeshot had watched his videos! How incredible was that?!

He let out a soundless squeal.

And then Ingenium had talked to him after that. To commission him! Because his analyses had been that good!

He sighed.

Deciding to make a herotube account and posting the analyses videos had been the best decision of his life.

He pulled on a jumper and quickly bounded downstairs before he got distracted by herotube again. He needed to get energy and then return making the videos. And to see if the hero had replied after yesterday.

(This was better than playing with Kacchan. No one knew he was quirkess.)

"Are you going to go out today, Izuku?" His mother asked worriedly, probably thinking about last Saturday when one of Kacchan's 'rougher' days had left him to come home with very visible bruises.

Izuku flinched at the memory. "N- not right now. I was thinking of- of working on my herotube account?"

Inko's worry slowly began to fade, leaving behind a beautiful smile. "That's fine. Do you need anything? I'm going to the supermarket today."

Izuku shook his head. "No, thank you, Kaa-chan. I'm just going to work on my analyses videos. "

Inko beamed.

Izuku couldn't help but grin in return.

His mother always had been incredibly supportive.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Kaa-chan, I saw the news yesterday, and Ingenium actually caught ToeTrack!"

"With your video?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, Izuku," Inko exclaimed, rushing over to his side to engulf him in a warm hug. "That's incredible! You're helping heroes! Oh, my lovely boy..." She sniffed.

Izuku reddened. "Kaa-chan..." He protested weakly.

Inko squeezed him tighter.

Izuku hugged her back.

* * *

It was around an hour later when Izuku managed to return to his computer.

The screen was still open to the video page, so he saved it and minimized it, still needing to edit it for the latest information he may or may not have acquired.

With trembling fingers, he brought up herotube.

There were a few more views and likes in his videos, and one of those "Nice work!" comments that made his heart balloon, but he instantly headed to the red dot decorating the tab for the conversation with Ingenium.

The hero had replied!

Izuku swallowed and the tab popped open.

**'Thanks,'** It began, and Izuku's eyes flashed through the rest at breakneck speed.

Wow.

Just-

Wow.

His hand fell on the keyboard and a stream of nonsense fell out. Thankfully, this time, the enter key was out of reach.

Izuku erased the random combination of letters and quickly opened a new tab.

He already had an email, yes, but something Ingenium had said was right.

He wanted to keep his identity a secret.

People would probably ask him if he was stupid.

A jump onto the fame bandwagon?

But...

Izuku bit his lip. Those people had quirks. He did not. Would people still watch his videos should they realize?

Would they still heed his ideas, ideas that had (and Izuku knew it) helped Ingenium capture ToeTrack?

Would- would anymore heroes ask him to analyse their quirks?

His browser pinged.

Izuku jerked.

There was another like on his video.

He blinked.

The tab loaded to reveal the email creation age at hero mail.

_'QuirkAnalyst'_

A small red cross appeared.

_'QuirkAnalysis'_

Cross-

He sighed.

_'QuirkyAnalyst'_

Ping!

The screen turned green.

Seconds later, his account had been created and the empty screen looked up at him mockingly.

He clicked 'compose' and pushed in all the relevant information, attaching the file labeled _'Ingenium Stats.pdf'_

_[Sent]_

Izuku sagged in his chair.

He should probably change his herotube email from his private one to this one, too.

He hummed, then switched the tabs.

The Ingenium chat was still open, and once again, Izuku, let his eyes flicker across it-

Wait.

Another commision?

He blinked. But he had just now sent the first one! Why was Ingenium so sure...?

And a bill? How was he supposed to make a bill?

He bit his lip.

_'For the other quirk, can you first see if you're satisfied with the analysis I've already done?'_

He hesitated.

_'If you still want another one, I'd need details on the quirk and current quirk usage capabilities. Also preferably a video of the utilization of the quirk, if available, please.'_

He quickly pressed the button to shut down the messages, and turned to the search bar.

Time to re-research Broken's limitations.


	4. Discovery

It was the next night that Tensei managed to check his email. It seemed that this was how their communications we're going to work from now on. (And wasn't it strangely fascinating how easily he was accepted ting the fact that it would continue?)

There were some dozen from random people, fans, and advertisement companies. He ignored them, scrolling down for the special one he was loo-

Aha.

QuirkyAnalyst@heromail . com had sent him a mail labeled 'Hero Analysis no. 1'.

He double clicked and it popped open, a file shown attached.

Tensei grinned.

He was actually excited, he realized. Quirky Analyst had wormed his way into his heart with just a few words, and Tensei was sure he wouldn't be able to leave.

Haaaa.

The PDF opened to show a 10 page file with size 11 font and bold headings that made everything that much more professional.

Tensei smiled.

There was a definition of his quirk, his current capabilities, his theorized possible capabilities, his strengths and how to compliment them, his weaknesses and how to overcome them, and-

There was so much.

It was all separated into neat little categories, and so much better than the two other quirk analysts he had had the misfortune to use at some point (the government and its shenanigans. Then again, Tensei should be glad. If the government had used Quirky, all his weaknesses would have been open and free for them to use.

He shuddered involuntarily and closed the file. He would have to peruse through it at length later. For now, it was time to reply to Quirky with gratitude and the email for Mirio, as well as the information about his bank account. He had already transferred the standard amount for quirk analysts there, though he was pretty sure Quirky would be blustering with nervous refusal.

No matter. Tensei wasn't about to take it back. Besides, with how good Quirky had made it, he deserved more. Much, much more.

And Tensei would try to pay that with business in the form of his fan base recommendation. Quirky's natural skill set would propel him to greatness, but he'd help give him a push.

There was a knock on his door and it opened just a crack, Metal Work peering in with his sparkling black eyes and shiny silver face.

"Ingenium, the kids are ready. We're all waiting for you."

Tensei clicked send and put the monitor to sleep. "Coming. We're going to Wajauma, right?"


	5. Where Mirio impresses Izuku

**Hola, friends! Update time.****I am at a stalemeate with the next one, so it may or may not be late.****Well... It's not like i update on a schedule anyway.****Adieu, my people! **

**And enjoy.**

* * *

Izuku saw Ingenium's glowing thanks and beamed long enough for his cheeks to hurt, staring at the same sentence for nearly an hour.

Asdjfkxksbif.

Ingenium actually, _actually_ liked his analysis! Not just his videos!

Wooooooooooooooooaaa-

He inhaled deeply.

Calm down, Izuku.

He clicked on compose. He needed to contact this 'Lemillion' now. He hadn't heard of him. Yet. But if Ingenium was recommending him, he was probably someone to look out for.

_'Respected Lemillion,_

_I am Quirky Analyst, and Ingenium recommended your name to me. As you would be my second customer, I suggest that to glean a measure of my abilities, please watch my videos or ask Ingenium for confirmation._

_If you choose to continue this association, please forward me the details of your quirk and how it currently works._

_Thank you!_

_Quirky Analyst.'_

He looked it over once, twice, thrice.

The words blurred and he frowned. Was it okay?

... He sighed. It would have to do.

* * *

Mirio hummed. A week at Ingenium's agency had been a great choice. He'd learnt a lot and made new friends. Hazard, NomNom and Metal Work were cool.

Plus, the after party had been awesome.

His phone pinged and the screen flickered open to show he had a new email.

He swiped in the password and tapped on the hero mail app icon.

The first email was from someone named Quirky Analyst.

The quirk analyst Ingenium had recommended...

Mirio's face curled into a frown.

Was this person really worth it? Ingenium had reassured him of this analysts credibility, but...

He shook his head and began to type a reply. He trusted Ingenium; he might as well give this Quirky a try.

* * *

Izuku groaned and flopped onto his bed with all the energy of a sack of flour.

Kacchan had been even meaner than usual today, and he had a ton of homework to make up for because the teacher had blamed him for all the books he had torn when he tumbled onto them.

Kacchan pushed him, of course. Not that his teacher would ever listen to him. He was just the quirkless-

His phone rang. _Toot-to-toot-to-too_.

He sighed and turned face up, swiping the pattern on the screen.

Oh. Lemillion had replied.

He opened the email and his eyes widened.

_Permeation?_ That was n incredible quirk! Granted, he thought all quirks we're awesome, but this one was extra awesome.

Woah.

The possibilities were endless.

Izuku skimmed through the rest of the message and the details Lemillion had provided, poring over it with a deep excitement and anticipation.

Time to hit the analysis board.


	6. Where Izuku impresses Mirio and friends

**Where** **Izuku's skills at Impressing other people increase **

* * *

Mirio found himself on edge all day.

Quirky had been silent the entire time, and sure, analyses took time (he guessed that part), but surely Quirky should have contacted him before it?

He tapped his shoes on the wooden floor and for a moment, his quirk fired up, letting his shoe sink off his foot.

He scowled and put it back on.

He had tried to busy himself - there was still a day left till his school began again, and his friends were still busy.

Nejire had replied, but only with a smiley face, and then she'd gone radio silent. That was two days ago.

Mirio would have been worried, except she was working with an underground hero, and so, he guessed this was part of the job.

He sighed and looked at his computer.

Maybe the internet would elevate his boredom?

He slipped into the chair and pushed the power button.

The CPU spurred to life.

For a quarter or so of an hour, Mirio scrolled through the various news articles that popped up on his browser, but after that, he got bored. Again.

He looked at the time and pouted.

Why was it moving so slow?

He sighed. When would Quirky even reply?

.

.

.

Wait.

_The internet._

Quickly, he typed in _'Quirky Analyst',_ and a few million hits popped up.

The first one was a video channel, 'Analysis in essence', by Quirky Analyst himself.

Mirio grinned and clicked it open.

The first and most upvoted (yet) video on the list of five was titled _'Bluewater - A Study in Stupidity'. _

Mirio snorted and clicked on it.

_'Hi.. Uh, this is Quirky Analyst again. Today I have a video on Bluewater.' _A picture of the villain appeared on the screen; a snarling portrait of the man in handcuffs._'I gave this one a lot of thought, because a lot of people have conflicting views on his incarceration and subsequent release. I'll definitely talk about that part, but first, of course, the quirk analysis.'_

For the duration of the half hour the video ran, Mirio found himself fascinated and hanging on to every word. The animation was amateurish and lagging, but the analysis itself... _Man_.

Quirky was not a hoax, and Mirio was half afraid what his analysis would be.

... And also really interested in what the analyst would say.

His face split into a big smile and he clicked on the next video. This was better than reality shows.

(Not that he watched any.)

It was four days into school, a Thursday. Mirio was in his room with Nejire, Daisuke and Tamaki, all of whom were regaling each with tales of their internship shenanigans.

It was at that moment that Mirio's computer, open to his email account, pinged. Mirio let his eyes wander to the lit screen, but didn't bother to move from his very comfortable position on the bed. "I've had so many emails since I signed up for the Twirk newsletter."

Nejire laughed. "Why'd you sign up for that? It's got literally nothing we don't already know."

Mirio groaned.

Daisuke jumped up and hurried to the computer. "Don't mind if I do. I love Twirk. The ratings are the best_."_

Tamaki rolled his eyes. "And unrepresentative of the whole population. One 30 ish percent use use it, anyway."

Daisuke shrugged, slumped into the spinning chair, and frowned. "It ain't Twirk, Togata. It's someone called... Quirky Analyst?"

Mirio blinked and there was a moment of stillness.

And then he jumped up, letting Nejire, who was sitting on his legs, tumble down.

"Finally!"

He scrambled towards the screen, paying no mind to his friends staring at him with confusion.

Nejire let out a delayed and louder-than-normal ouch. "Why would you injure your beautiful best friend?"

Daisuke snorted at Mirio's unresponsiveness. "Is it a girlfriend we don't know about?" He asked slyly, and the two others also leapt to attention.

Mirio rolled his eyes. "It's just a quirk analyst. Ingenium introduced me."

Tamaki scoffed. "Quirk Analysts are frauds. Hariko-sensei got fleeced by one last year."

Daisuke let out a low whistle. "Our middle school teach? Damn. Didn't see that coming. He was as straight laced as they go!" He thrummed his fingers on his thigh. "Why'd he need a quirk analyst anyway?"

Tamaki shrugged.

Nejire looked at Mirio with a tinge of worry. "He's not scamming you, is he?"

Mirio shook his head. "I actually thought the same thing. But-" He twisted his mouth. "You should watch his videos."

Daisuke instantly whipped out his phone. "Herotube it is!"

Tamaki groaned. "Now he's never getting off."

Mirio grinned without remorse. "Search up 'Analysis in Essence' by Quirky Analyst."

"Ooh, he analysed Bluewater? And Broken! She's still on the run, right?" Daisuke scrolled further down, and his phone was instantly snatched from his hands. "What." He muttered blankly.

Nejire's eyes gleamed with an intensity the three had seldom seen (Then again, they'd only been classmates for a few months). She clicked on 'Broken's video. Sounds began to blare out of Daisuke's phone.

Tamaki let a half smile settle on his face. "You should have expected that," He answered Daisuke's betrayed look.

Daisuke turned expectantly to Mirio's back. "Togata?"

Mirio didn't turn. "Hmm?"

Tamaki snorted.

Daisuke sighed. "Fine. Squeeze over, Hado. I'm gonna watch this guy break down Broken."

Tamaki groaned, but followed, and the three found themselves stuffed on Mirio's bed, the man himself engrossed in his email.

* * *

"Hooooooo-"

Mirio snapped out of his musing over the strengths of his quirk listed out on the PDF in front of him, and spun the computer seat he had dragged over some half an hour ago to look at the wide-eyed trio sitting on his bed.

He grinned. Daisuke and Nejire looked more impressed, but there was a glint of surprise in Tamaki's eyes as well.

"Which one did you see?" He asked.

Nejire bounced up and put her hands on Mirio's shoulders. "Introduce me to this analyst."

Mirio blinked.

Daisuke nodded excitedly. "That was incredible, dude! Why does this guys have so few followers anyway? I mean, yeah, the audio and graphics and animation are shit, but the analysis is pro level!"

Tamaki stretched out his legs. "He definitely broke down broken," He muttered under his breath, and then spoke out loud. "He's better than the professionals. Some of them are fakes and not very thorough. But this was..." He trailed off.

Mirio grinned. "Exactly!" He pushed himself away from the computer. "And I just got a detailed personalized analysis for my quirk permeation."

The three quickly crowded around the screen.

Behind them, Mirio kept chatting. "I didn't even think about half the stuff Quirky suggested I could do. He did say its a preliminary analysis and he can't do one as extensive as he did for Ingenium, because he has no videos of me and can't gather more information without really seeing me in action, but still his suggestions are awesome! I never thought about it, but I can work for partial permeation of my body, and then simultaneously both stop an opponent from hitting me and use my legs, for example, to hit them instead."

"Can't you only do full permeation?" Nejire asked, brows furrowed as she skimmed the document.

"Well, yes. But! I haven't actually _tried_ partial permeation, so I don't have any idea if its possible."

"Huh."

Daisuke pushed away and grinned at Mirio. "I'm so jealous, Togato. You gotta introduce me, too."

Tamaki, grudgingly smiling, nodded. "I would like to make this analysts acquaintance as well. If he details even this much explanation, I believe my quirk usage will skyrocket. "

"... And you'll become more powerful and kill me in school," Daisuke added, shaking her head. "Me first!"

Nejire arched her brow. "Excuse me, boys, but I asked first." She turned expectantly to her friend. "Mirio-kun?"

Mirio laughed. "I'll ask Quirky. I don't know how much time he has, but he seems pretty nice. I think he'll probably do it for all of you." He inclined his head admiringly at the computer. "Plus, he did my analysis in under a week."

* * *

**Also, I'm really sorry, but this isn't a double edit. The two emails that may have been sent to the followers were the same one - the app malfunctioned for a second. or it may have been my phone. Um.**

A/N** 2: I am so **terribly **sorry for the spelling and grammar mistakes! I loath making them, and usually look over my work ten times before posting it (and even then, when I re-read it, it ends up having one or two). Thank you, **Valkrus**, for pointing it out to me. The only excuse I can give is that A2 is a monster and college applications a menace to society. offence **completely **intended.**  
**Anyway, I tried to correct my mistakes, but if any of you find anymore, please inform me.**


	7. Where Analysts are dumb and smart

Izuku clicked open the online bank statement that he had had delivered to his email account and stared. He stared for quite a while, before he scrambled back, fell off his chair and shrieked loud enough for the neighbors to wonder if birds had gotten in.

* * *

Tensei had one of those rare, peaceful days off.

His younger brother was at school and his parents were busy somewhere or the other with his father's associates, and the agency was closed for the time-being. Of course, should a villain emergency pop up, he would have to abandon his relaxation and jump back into work.

But that was a what-if scenario.

He stretched his arms and yawned, a wave of drowsy satisfaction lapping at the edge of his consciousness.

…

His phone beeped.

Tensei flinched. Seriously?

… Ten more minutes.

The clock ticked; every second sounding bigger than before. Tensei's guilt doubled. "Ugh, fine," he muttered after nearly two minutes. What could hurt? He was already prepared for the worst-case scenario.

He turned to his phone and let his glazed eyes scanned the identification, before sharpening. Huh, Quirky. Why was the kid messaging him again? Not that he had anything against Quirky, but the kid was obviously a fan, and – from his experience – the kind of fan who would generally balk before contacting the focus of their attentions without cause.

'_Ingenium-san, I think you have deposited too much money into the account you allocated to me!'_

Tensei frowned. He had? That wasn't like him. He was pretty sure he had researched the average analyst rate and paid Quirky that. He would have paid the high-end amount, but he had been sure Quirky would act… well, exactly like he was acting now. Shaking his head, he pulled up his banking app and looked up the recent month's bill.

'**I'm pretty sure I put in the correct amount.'**

'_But it's too much, sir!'_

'**Quirky, are you aware of the amount analysts usually charge for an analysis even a fraction of the length you did for me, and I'm assuming, Lemillion?'**

For a moment, there was a lull in the typing, and Tensei snorted, knowing that the kid was probably finding up the answer now.

'… _Do analysts really charge this much?'_

'**Of course. Sometimes even more. Do you want more? I **_**am **_**willing to provide you with the charge, because you have given me the value of the money already. More so, in fact.'**

'_No!'_

'_Please, Ingenium-san, this is too much. I didn't… start this for money, and this much…'_

'**I am not taking back what I've already paid, Quirky.'**

There was another minute of silence, with Tensei barely paying attention to his phone. Of course he wasn't going to take back the money. Quirky deserved it.

'_Thank you.' _ Quirky said finally, simply.

Tensei grinned. **'No problem, kid. If you have any more problems, don't be afraid to ask.' **He stretched his neck, letting his thoughts mix up inside his head. **'… If you're worried about it, though, you can lower the amount you want other people to pay. But don't go lower than two thirds, okay?'**

'**Actually, I'll try to find you a trustworthy business contact for you to work with, even if you keep your identity generally a secret. The business contact will talk you through the process and assuage your worries. Sound good? But until then, don't go lower than two thirds of the amount.'**

'_Okay. Thank you, Ingenium-san.'_

'**You're welcome, Quirky.'**

* * *

'**Quirky! Are you up for something?**' Mirio messaged resignedly, his three friends staring hungrily over his shoulder.

'_Oh, hello, Lemillion-san! Are you okay with the analyses report I made for you, or do you need any alteration…?'_

'**Ah, no,'** Mirio typed. **'It's brilliant, thanks. I just wanted to ask if you'd be okay with analyzing the quirks of three of my friends. We'll pay, of course.'**

The three had begun to pester Mirio until the boy had finally given in and agreed to contact Quirky. They had looked up the analyst rates up and pooled their money. Their pockets felt incredibly lighter, but their expectations felt fuller.

'_Oh! That would be amazing, Lemillion-san! But you don't have to pay. I love to analyze! I can do it for free.'_

'**You allowed Ingenium to pay.'**

'_Ingenium-san insisted, and I couldn't… do anything.'_

Mirio snorted and tilted his head to his friends. "Well?"

Nejire huffed. "Of course we're going to pay him. You said he's around our age, right? Plus, the analysis he did for you was amazing."

Tamaki nodded.

Daisuke shrugged. "I'm up for whatever. Wouldn't mind a free meal, of course, but I've already taken out the money." He frowned. "Exactly how old is Quirky, by the way?"

"I don't know," Mirio replied, stretching his wrists over the keyboard. "Should I ask?"

"I mean-"

But Mirio was already typing.

Daisuke snorted. "'Course."

'**We'll pay. Just make us a receipt to officiate it.'**

'_Ah, okay.' _Quirky typed back._ 'Thank you. I'll work on the receipts?'_

'**By the way, Quirky, how old are you?'**

'…'

'**It's okay if you don't want to tell us.'**

'_I'm thirteen.' _

There was silence. Mirio's fingers froze.

'_Ah, you don't have to ask me for analyses if you aren't comfortable with my age! I just… I just love to analyze. I'm sorry…'_

Mirio sputtered. "He's three years younger than us!"

Tamaki, though similarly surprised, managed to shrug it off. "It's not that surprising if he has an intelligence or analysis quirk. Age doesn't really assure credibility."

Daisuke chuckled. "If it did, Hariko-sensei'd have his analysis in full."

Nejire clicked her tongue. "Well, at least reply to the poor boy, Mirio. He seems the type to think you'd abandon him after not replying to something like this."

"Ah-" Mirio spun back to the computer screen. **'Don't worry, Quirky. We aren't doubting your skills. My friends still want to have their quirks analyzed. I'll have them contact you with the details of their quirk through heromail, how about that?'**

'_Yes! That will be awesome! Thank you, Lemillion-san.'_

'**So, anyway, can you forward the receipt and the bank account details? We're paying in collective.'**

'_Yes, please wait a second.'_

There was a five-minute gap, and then a pdf file attachment popped up on screen. As Mirio clicked it open, Daisuke whistled. "Damn, that's lower than what the internet's boasting!"

Mirio grinned. "I should have guessed Quirky would want less than he deserves. Haa~"

Nejire crossed her arms. There was a hard glint in her eyes directed at Daisuke. "This child is a treasure."

Daisuke snorted. "Not gonna argue with you, Hado. I happen to agree."

* * *

Izuku waited for Lemillion's reply of acknowledgement of the receipt, then hurriedly shifted his communication tabs so that his conversation with Ingenium was open.

His body trembled with adrenaline and joy, and his mind whizzed at impossible speeds.

'_Ingenium-san!' _He typed in, backspacing and rewriting constantly when his fingers fumbled in their tremble-fest._ 'I got three new customers! They're Lemillion-san's friends.'_

There was no reply for quite a while. Izuku drooped. Ingenium was probably busy, as a hero.

… But Izuku had wanted to tell Ingenium-san first.

His phone zinged.

'**Congrats, kid! I'm proud of you.'**

Izuku felt himself glow. _'Thank you!'_

'**Do you want me to announce that you're starting an analysis business? You could get a few more customers from that.'**

'_What do you mean?'_

'**I could post the information pertinent to your business on social media. I'm not as popular as a lot of other heroes, but I've got a decent following.'**

Izuku stilled. _Ingenium _promoting his page?!

… But…

He jumped up and rushed out the door to his mother's room. "Kaa-chan?" He called from the entrance.

Midoriya Inko looked up from the book she had been reading and smiled warmly at her son. "Yes, Izuku?"

Izuku hesitated, courage wavering like it always did when there was no screen between him and the person he was talking to.

[**'… proud of you…'**]

Izuku straightened. "Do you think I should let Ingenium-san advertise my analysis business?" He spewed in a ramble of excitement.

Inko's eyes widened and she jumped off the bed, rushing to engulf Izuku into a hug fit for kings. "That's wonderful news, Izu-kun!" She sniffed and burrowed into her son's fluffy hair. "You're growing up so fast!"

Izuku reddened, glad his mother couldn't see his face. "Kaa… Kaa-chan, what should I do?"

A minute later, Inko stepped back, wiping one last tear from her eye. "You don't want more quirks to analyze?" She asked.

"Of course I do! But…"

Inko looked at him with worried eyes.

"… I'm quirkless…" He mumbled.

Inko fell to her knees and grasped Izuku's face in her hands, looking up into his shining green eyes. "I know I haven't always been the best mother to you, Izuku," She began, silencing Izuku's wide-eyed attempts to disagree with that statement. "But you are a brilliant child. You managed to start an analysis channel that attracted the attention of a pro-hero and even helped him catch a wanted criminal, _all without a quirk. _I should have said this years ago, Izu-kun, but a quirk doesn't make a person." She smiled tremulously, more tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes. "So don't make a decision on the basis of quirk abilities – make it on the basis of what you want to do."

Izuku swallowed, eyes shining. He stared at Inko for all of ten seconds, before he fell forward, onto his mother, clutching at the fabric of her shirt.

'_Without a quirk.'_

He really had… hadn't he?

He'd made a name for himself, for his brains, for his intelligence. He'd made a name and he had done it all with his hard-earned skills, and no quirk whatsoever.

"Thanks…" He mumbled into her clothes, voice coming out muffled before he drew away. "Thank you, Kaa-chan."

Inko smiled and wiped tears from her eyes. "What will you do then, Izuku?"

Izuku clenched his fists.

On the one hand, his mother was right. He could get so many more customers, and that way, more quirks to analyze. Eh could help so many people.

At the same time, though, it wasn't only the good guys who used the internet.

He took in a deep breath and nodded decisively. "I'll tell Ingenium-san I don't want him to tell everyone about this."

Inko raised her face questioningly to his.

"Be- because I think it'd be better to work by referral? I mean-" Izuku sighed. "Do you think that would work, Kaa-chan? I just don't want to accidentally analyze for and therefore help a villain, and I think referral would make sure that didn't happen."

"That sounds perfect, Izu-kun," Inko agreed warmly. "Plus, this way, you can concentrate on your studies as well!"

Izuku laughed nervously.

His mother drew him into another hug. "Anything you choose is already fine with me, Izu-kun. You don't have to prove anything." She smiled and Izuku's eyes prickled with tears. "You're already a her in my heart."

A sob escaped Izuku's throat, and suddenly, both Midoriyas were crying into each other, uncaring of the world around them.

…

It took ten minutes for Izuku to trudge back to his room, an apple in hand that Inko had forced on him.

Munching on a big bite, Izuku pulled open his conversation with the Hero and began to type.

'_I'm sorry. I left to ask my mother what she thought of the idea. You are an amazing hero, Ingenium-san, but I don't think you should promote my analysis business. I think…'_

'_I think that work by referral would be best because otherwise, villains might be able to take advantage of this, and I don't know how to distinguish between who's a good persona and who isn't.'_

'_So, thank you, Ingenium-san, but I have to turn down this opportunity.'  
_

* * *

Tensei looked at the words that began to appear on the screen with a level of awe he reserved for those people he was most impressed by.

This kid was thinking of stuff he – as a _hero _– hadn't bother to take into consideration.

A civilian kid had more maturity than he did. That sucked.

But damn, Quirky was incredible. He surprised Tensei at every turn, and never failed to make him feel like the world didn't deserve him.

Wow.

'**You're right. I won't advertise your analyses business. Thanks, Quirky, for once again helping me. I owe you another one.'**

Shaking his head, he switched tabs to his social media and pulled up the 'new post' button.

**[Hey, guys! Ingenium speaking. I was surfing the web the past few days and you wouldn't **_**guess **_**what I found…]**

* * *

...

**Chapter 7 at your servive.**

**(But next chapter... Muhahaha!)**


	8. Flames and Fury

**[ObjectoForm: **_Ingenium was right. Damn this kid has brains!_

**Furiouspeas: **_Genuine dude. Sure, the the editing etc could use work but the analysis is hella cool._

**Jijinautical: **_great work quirky_

**Fab: **_Excuse me_

**Fab: **_This shit is shit_

**Fab: **_Learn how to f***ing make videos uou idiot_

**Fab: **_You just ruined Ingeinums name_

**Sirreno: **_hey you can not like stuff but you dont need to insult ppl for it _

**ObjectoForm: **_Hey Fab, how would you like me to spam all __**your**__ accounts with the flaming mound of garbage you're spewing?_

**Straaydoog: **_hate to agree with haters but fabs got a point_

**Quirky-for-the-win: **_SHUT THIS_

**Quirky-for-the-win: **_I've been a quirky fan since forever and his analyses are amazing_

**Quirky-for-the-win: **_hes workign alone so obviously he cant do everything_

**Quirky-for-the-win: **_but the main point is the analysis and that's amazing so stop your pointless burnings. This is a 'CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY' zone douche_

**Fab: **_I just said the truth morons_

**Fab: **_If hes gonna get Ingenium to promote his vids then he needs vids that have even a minute of effort put into em_

**Sirreno: **_uncalled for. This is a public space Fab. Quirky can see your comments too_

**Fab: **_Why do you think I posted them_

**LeMillion: **_What the heck? When Ingenium sees this he's going to explode_

**Daisu-321: **_Quirky's videos have more effort put into one of them than you seem to put into the words that come out of your mouth, Fab_

**DarknessREbound: **_Well, this devolved quickly. I just came to say it was a great video, QuirkyAnalyst._

**Quirky-for-the-win: **_YYEAH! THE ANALYSIS OF RANGER WAS AMAZING AS ALWAYS! IM LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT VIDEO_

**QuirkyAnalyst:**_ Thank you, everybody._

**QuirkyAnalyst:**_ … I'm sorry I didn't make better ones._**]**


	9. An Izuku Interval

**Hey, readers. Great to see you again. Surprise, but this is a TRIPLE UPDATE.**

**I know, right? What is wrong with me? I'll tell you what. Social Distancing and postponed CAIEs. That's what.**

**I'm going crazy.**

**Anyway, I have a question for you guys.**

**I have a lot of plans for this fanfiction - and by lots, I mean AUs of this AU. Therefore, to make it easier on me, I am foisting off the decision of you folk.**  
**Vote in this poll, please!**

...

**Sadly, it seems that the link can't be attached to the story, so... yeah. You have two choices, you could go to my profile, or I can just relay the question here and you can just answer in your reviews.**

**So, the question is regarding Izuku's future, and the three options to choose from are: [Update: The last one has X's because it has been eliminated from the poll. It had very few votes. I'm leaving the poll as is for until I begin the UA arc to see if there's any real change. but as of now, Option 2 is winning.]**

**1\. Izuku receives One-for-All and goes to UA.  
2\. Izuku does not receive One-for-All, but still goes to UA.  
XXX [3. Izuku does not receive One-for-All and does not go to UA.] XXX**

**And remember, the only reason I'm asking is because I have ideas for all three. **

**... I could actually do that, you know. Write one story for here and another for my AO3 account. OOOOOOOH.**

* * *

Izuku bit his lip as the clock ticked, his mind half on the quiz in front of him, and half on what was happening at his analysis channel.

He hadn't expected Ingenium to announce him to all of his followers – not that he wasn't grateful for that. And excited. Because _wow! Ingenium! – _and the influx of attention had him reeling.

Hundreds of people had posted comments on his videos, and the words swam in his mind. He sighed, looked down, and realized he had just scrawled down an All Might doodle.

Well, it was official. All Might doodles were a definite sign of him being overwhelmed.

He pulled out an eraser and rubbed out the pencil strokes.

_Q6. What was the fifth president of the hero association most famous for? Include relevant references in your answer._

Ah, history. Good thing he had it all memorized.

(He'd had a hero phase… He still had a hero phase.)

He began to scrawl down the revolutionary villain apprehension policies introduced by Ito Ayumu. The air around him was filled with the sounds of furious huffs and overconfident writing.

Izuku bit his lip, and his thoughts turned to his classmates.

He'd only started the herotube account because of Kacchan's incessant stay-away-for-me's. He wouldn't have listened – he never had, before.

But then some kid had mentioned UA, and Kacchan going there, and Izuku had stupidly reminded him that he was going to apply there too, and-

His hand refused to move. He swallowed the burning inside him and took a deep breath.

And then Kacchan had roared at Izuku and thrown his newly burned notebook out of the window.

All because someone had mentioned UA.

…

UA had been Izuku's dream school for more than a decade. It had been his goal since before he knew he was quirkless.

It had been his dream since the moment he knew All Might had gone there.

And Kacchan- Kacchan had told him he couldn't go there.

'_UA wouldn't accept extras like you shits!'_

Izuku swallowed again and his eyes filled with tears. He exhaled, then wiped them away with he cuffs of his school shirt, staring sightlessly down at the half-filled quiz sitting on his desk.

UA was a prestigious school. _THE _school. Did Kacchan think the high percentage of impossibility hadn't crossed his mind? Of course it had! He had less than a _0.7_ percent chance of getting in.

… But damn Kacchan if he wouldn't try.

And Kacchan burning one of the notebooks containing his notes for the future?

Kacchan had always been someone he looked up to – a real life hero right in his vicinity. More so than the hero fights he ended up at every other day. A hero he grew up with and would see bloom into someone the entire world would idolize like he did.

But All Might's smile had flashed in his mind, and his encouraging words directed at everyone in the entire world, and Kacchan suddenly wasn't the hero Izuku had grown up with.

_(Did heroes tell others to _kill_ themselves?_

_And he almost had – it had only been a thought of the weeping face of his mother that convinced him that he shouldn't. if only because he'd already given his mother so much grief, and she didn't deserve anymore.)_

He'd gone home and told his mother that he wouldn't be hanging out with Kacchan anymore.

When she'd asked why with that worry in her voice and that fidget in her figure that Izuku despised inducing, he'd just said they'd grown apart.

She'd asked him if he would like Katsudon for dinner, and that night, they'd talked about what he would do with his free time now that he wouldn't be spending it with Kacchan.

Inko had suggested he help out in the neighborhood; with groceries, lawn mowing, everything. It might not be hero work, but Izuku would still be _helping _people.

Izuku had glowed.

"Kaa-chan, I'm going to be a hero." He'd announced, and she'd engulfed him in a hug that made him feel so warm inside.

He'd rushed up to his room and brought his burnt notebook, opened to a fresh, crispy page and started to put down his goals.

_Help out people in the neighborhood._

_Train to be a hero._

_Go to UA._

_Make my mom proud._

The fourth one, granted, was more of a life goal. But he would do it, and he would do it all.

He'd put down his notebook and his eyes had fallen to the cover.

'_Hero Analysis for the Future Volume 12'_

Hero analysis.

He'd done the analysis of the quirks of so many heroes.

… So why couldn't he do the same for the villains? And if he could find a way to relay that to the heroes, maybe – just an impractical, impossible _maybe _– it would help them find a way to apprehend them easier than if he wouldn't have analyzed their quirks.

"Ten minutes," The teacher grunted, and Izuku jerked out of his memories, eyes flying back to the task at hand. History quiz. It was half empty, and he had only ten minutes left. Shoot.

Half an hour later, walking home from school, the comments problem reappeared on his mind.

He'd known from the start that the graphics were terrible, and he'd tried to learn something on the internet – taken a few free classes and looked at 'how to' pages.

But the incorporation into his videos was really difficult to do.

… But was it really that bad?

Quite a few comments had said that he was terrible at it.

And yeah, the analyses were his main concern, but that didn't mean that being called out on bad editing felt good.

He sighed.

Maybe he should enroll in a paid computer informatics class? That had to have more than the free versions. He even had money now that wouldn't a burden on his mother.

But.

The classes were so expensive.

And there were always some comments that made him doubt whether if would be any good.

He sighed again. Ingenium would know what to do. And yet, Izuku couldn't contact him again just because of some selfish request. Ingenium was a _pro-hero._

Groaning as he finally reached his door, he pulled out his key and pushed it into the lock, pulling himself inside sporting a brain overloaded with indecision. "Kaa-chan! I'm home!"

Inko looked up from her position on the lounge couch, where she was curled up with a hardcover book. "Oh, Izu-kun! Welcome home. How was the test?"

"It was okay." He trudged forward and collapsed on the seat beside her. "How was your day?"

Inko smiled and closed her book. "It was great. I had a lunch date with Mitsuki."

Izuku grinned. He may no longer consider Kacchan the best friend he used to be, but for his mother, Aunt Mitsuki was one of the best. So he snuggled deeper into the soft leather of the couch and began to listen, pulling his mind away from the many worries that were bombarding it.


	10. Good Ideas and Sneaky Kids

Mirio swore.

He didn't swear much, as proven by his friends looking at him as if he was crazy. Granted, they were sitting in class, but the teacher was out, and the rest of the class was busy in their own endeavors. Plus, he had the right to do so.

Sort of.

"They're still wrecking him!" He burst out.

Nejire's eyes sharpened. "The comments section, you mean?"

Mirio nodded and let his phone fall on the table. "What the heck? I'm pretty sure Ingenium only posted that message so Quirky could get more exposure, not be _bullied online_."

Tamaki shrugged. "Technically, he did get around 10k followers over the week."

"And so many hate comments."

Daisuke exhaled. "Ugh. I hate people who bully little kids." He scowled. "He's just thirteen years old! It's not like he had the time to perfect graphic design, or hell, even _learn_ it."

Nejire hummed. "Daisuke."

The boy looked up instantly. "Yeah, Hado?"

"You took classes for graphic design over the summers, right?"

"Yeah, why?" He stopped and raised his eyebrows in contemplation. "You know, that's actually a good idea."

Nejire grinned. "He's my treasure. Of course I'll get good ideas."

Mirio frowned. "What good idea?"

Tamaki grinned at Daisuke. "You're going to up Quirky's video graphics."

Daisuke nodded. "I'll make those cyber-trolls eat their words." He snorted. "Damn it, Hado, you've fired me up!"

Nejire laughed. "No need to thank me. All part of my job."

Mirio's eyes widened, and before anyone could realize what he was doing, he was hugging Daisuke.

"To-Togata!" Daisuke whined, but the edges of his cheeks were burning a brazen red.

Mirio released him and stepped back, grinning widely. "Thanks, Dai." He said warmly, because Daisuke was helping out Quirky, and Quirky had somehow wormed his way into his heart.

Tamaki snorted and Nejire burst out laughing.

"Shut up!" Daisuke growled.

The door slid open and the teacher entered, clearing his throat.

Mirio and his friends shuffled back to their seats, Daisuke pushing his head into the crook of his elbows, because the red really showed on his cheeks.

Mirio, on a table to the right, smiled, because man, he had good friends.

He just hoped Quirky wasn't too down about the comments.

* * *

Later that day, Daisuke shut the door to his room and fired up his computer, ready to make Quirky haters eat their own words.

First, he went back to the comments to check out the exact complaints of all the commenters.

'_Bad quality… The sound is pretty shitty… graphics…Overall-'_

He ignored the last few.

So. Quirky needed a graphic designer and an audio editor. He could do the designing parts, but what to do with the audio elements? Maybe he could shoot off a few messages in online chatrooms asking for people willing to help?

He shrugged. He'd have to ask Quirky.

'**Hey, Quirky. This is Daisuke. I'm one of Mirio's friends. Or do you know him as Lemillion? Anyway, I attached the file with the information you need for my quirk analysis, but I also wanted to ask if you wanted help? I saw those comments – those idiots have no conscience, I swear – and you seem to struggle with graphic design and audio. I can help with the sound edits, but visually, I'm your guy! And if you need an audio editor, I can try to find one for you, if you want.'**

He minimized the window and waited, pulling up an RPG while he did so.

Quirky replied only ten minutes later, and the tiny ping startled Daisuke out of his game-induced concentration.

'… _You really want to help me?'_

'**Of course. I was with Mirio the last time you talked, and you seem like a cool dude.' **Daisuke hesitated. The kid seemed almost… scared. Why would he be so hesitant in accepting help? His mind flew back to Quirky's charges and he frowned again. **'Don't worry kid. I really mean it.'**

'_I- I didn't mean to imply that you were lying!'_

Daisuke snorted. **'I know. So, what do you think?'**

There was a five-minute gap before Quirky began to type again. _'That would be amazing, Daisuke-san! Thank you!'_

'**No problem, kid. And what about the audio editing thing?'**

'_If you can find someone, I would be really grateful.'_

'**Consider it done.' **Daisuke cracked his knuckles. Well. That was easy. Time to relay the news to-

'_Daisuke-san?'_

'**Yeah, Quirky?'**

'_How much are you going to charge for this?'_

Daisuke spluttered. **'I can't charge you anything!'**

'_But I'm going to be taking up so much of your time, and graphic designers are originally pretty expensive; I couldn't _not _pay you – that would be taking advantage of you even after you contributed to my channel and paid my for your quirk analysis! And you're Mirio-san's friend!'_

'**Er.'**

'**Look, Quirky. You're a kid.'**

'_But I'm still earning from the analysis thing you all helped me out with!'_

'**Ahhhhhh.' **Daisuke sighed. Why wasn't the kid defaulting to his shy whatever-you-say persona right now? **'… My friends'll kill me if I do that.' **

'_I won't tell them.'_

Seriously? **'Fine. You can waive my consultation fee.'**

'_For one video?'_

'**For **_**all **_**of them.'**

'_Two.'_

'**Ten.'**

'_Five.'_

'**Okay, fine. Done.' **He scowled.** 'You know, if you use this negotiation technique at supermarkets, you'd get outrageous discounts.'**

_'😊'_

Daisuke shook his head.

'_Can you send me your account details? Mirio-san already transferred the yen for you and your friends, and I want to transfer your amount back.'_

'**Okay. But be warned – if Hado asks, I am showing her this conversation.' **And with that statement, he closed the window.

Outmaneuvered by someone three years his junior. And to something that benefitted _him!_

This was definitely a story he wasn't sharing with the squad. If Hado didn't kill him, Mirio and Tamaki's incessant laughter would.

Shaking his head, he turned back and opened up some chatrooms that he had gotten into when learning computer informatics and graphic design. They were a den of computer geeks – be they amateurs or experts, and these online rooms were the best way to get to the biggest audience.

He posted a simple ad stating **[Looking for a young audio editor for a small-time herotube account. Timings are flexible, and the person hired will be paid by the hour.]**

And now, for the wait.

* * *

**Remeber to vote!**

**[T****he question is regarding Izuku's future, and the two options to choose from are:**

**1\. Izuku receives One-for-All and goes to UA.  
2\. Izuku does not receive One-for-All, but still goes to UA.]  
**


	11. Quirky Courage

**Wherein the production crew comes together and Izuku talks to a girl. Granted, it's on the internet, but still!**  
**In other news, Tensei realizes Quirky really _has_ grown on him.**

* * *

'**I found someone for the audio.'**

Izuku opened his messages and blinked. _What? _ Then his eyes widened. _'Really?'_ He typed with trembling fingers. 'asfcfhjnsdx'

He clicked send.

'_Sorry. I accidentally key-smashed.'_

The reply was quick. **'No worries, kid. I know people who do it intentionally.' **

'_So, you said you found an audio editor? How? Who are they? Are they willing to work with me? How much do they need me to pay them?'_

'**Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, quirky.'**

Izuku blushed on his side of the screen. Daisuke continued typing.

'**It's a kid, like you. I wasn't picky on the age. I was going for the whole older more experienced vibe, but most of the ppl who replied to my ad seemed like creeps. Haha.'**

'**So I picked out the only one who seemed actually interested in just editing sound.'**

'_Oh.'_

'**No need to worry. She seems chill. Her pen name's Kyo2, but she told me to call her Kyo. I told her your channel and she said she'd have a look. She'll contact you about the details in a bit.'**

Izuku squirmed in his bed. _Another person was watching his videos. _Okay, granted, a lot of people had after Ingenium had posted his link on his social media, but every view seemed incredible to him. They liked _his _videos. A _quirkless kid's creations. _

He sighed. _'Thank you!' _He typed in instantly. _'You've done so much for me, Daisuke-san, I don't know how to repay you.'_

'**Just do me a good analysis, sure? I want to become a cooler hero than Togata.'**

'_Okay! I'll work hard on it!'_

'… **You know I didn't mean right this instant, right?'**

Izuku, who had scrambled up from his bed to grab his notebook, stilled.

'**What am I going to do with you Quirky?'**

'_Daisuke-san!'_

'**Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I've got to get back to studies for now. Got a huge test coming up and Togata's eating my head about it. Send me the next video whenever, got it?'**

'_Okay.'_

'**Cool. See ya.'**

Daisuke's indicator went red. Offline.

Izuku frowned. He'd just now realized. Daisuke-san was a hero-in-training too. Just like Mirio-san. So why had he volunteered to help Izuku? Surely he didn't have time?

His resolve hardened. Daisuke-san was giving up his free time to help him. Now he had an even bigger obligation. He was going to have to make sure he gave Daisuke-san the best analysis he had done in his life so he could become one of the best heroes in existence.

His phone pinged.

'**Hey. This is Kyo2. That Daisuke guy said he'd tell you about me?'**

She didn't wait for him to reply.

'**So. I checked out your channel.' **Izuku held his breath. **'The comments are right. The production quality could use improving. But I think you've got a bit of talent and strong base. And I like your choice of background music. I'll help you.'**

Izuku shook himself out of his stupor as Kyo stopped typing. He pushed himself off the bed and began to pace the length of the room. _'That sounds incredible! Thank you, Kyo-san!'_

'**I mean, there's no need to say thank you… You'd be paying me, after all.'**

There was a second before another message shot off.

'**Prior warning; I'm not an adult. If that was your expectation, you're going to be seriously disappointed.'**

'_Oh, no. I don't mind, Kyo-san. I'm pretty young too, so…'_

'**I guessed that. You didn't hide your voice in your older videos that well.'**

'_Oh.'_

'**Hmm.'**

'_That said, I, uh, don't know how much money it takes…?'_

'**My ideal is a 1000 yen per hour.'**

Izuku frowned, then shot up a question on the search engine, pulling up part-time salary statistics. The lower range? That didn't sound so bad. And even if Kyo spent two or three hours on one video, the total still wouldn't affect the earnings he had just gotten from Ingenium, LeMillion and the rest a lot.

'_That sounds fine,' _He answered._ 'If you're sure.'_

'**Cool,'** Kyo replied. **'DM me the vid files as soon as you're done making the raws.'**

'_Ah, I have to send them to Daisuke-san first. For graphic editing.'_

'**Yeah. Okay, send them to me after that then. Also, I suggest you buy a new mike and recorder. They'll cut off the white noise. It really distracts from what you want the audience to hear. I'll DM you the specifics of the best models in a bit if you want recs.'** She logged off.

Izuku stared at the screen, his heart heaving.

Shoot. That had been nerve-wracking. _He'd never talked to a girl before._

He shook his head. This was no time to spaz out. He had to find someone to make an analysis video on. He had been planning to make one on Rinazaki Hinaii, who the public had taken to calling Caper Queen. She'd recently pulled off a heist off a small time jewelry store, but the compilation of robberies she'd pulled off in the past year were staggering in comparison to the normal thief, and Izuku, like a lot of the online presence, thought there was an accomplice. But despite her robberies, her quirk, gymnast, was absolutely amazing, because it made her body fully flexible. She used body contortion to get into and out of the most impossible of places, and her mastery over her quirk was one of the reasons she always escaped the heroes. Well, that, and she mostly stayed in the areas where the heroes patrolling were incompatible to her capture.

He'd been thinking of doing an analysis on her, but now, with both Daisuke and Kyo working with him, he wanted to do something more. Something _special._

He flopped down on the seat in front of his computer and began to type.

* * *

It had been a week and Tensei had not been contacted by Quirky.

He realized at that moment, stuck in the middle of handing over a criminal to the police, that it felt odd.

Quirky was a kid who he'd known for, what? Two months? Three? He frowned. "Damn it, the kid's grown on me."

NomNom peered over his shoulder at the criminal the police were processing. "Who's grown on you?"

Tensei jumped. "_Nom!"_

NomNom laughed. "Sorry, Engine. It's a habit."

"That you need to turn _off."_

His sidekick shrugged.

Tensei sighed and returned his attention to the policeman who had signed one of the forms and was pushing it his way. Smiling, he read over the piece of paper and wrote down the details required. "Let's go," He told NomNom, and the two strode out of the police station.

It was a slow night, characteristic of the lower rung criminals that were prowling the streets. They had already caught three on their way back to the agency, and few else were showing. Some of the other sidekicks that the Ingenium agency had recently taken on, working under MetalWork, were patrolling the rest of the areas.

"So?" His companion continued. "Who's grown on you? You didn't answer."

Tensei sighed. "This kid online. He posts analyses videos, and he did an analysis for me."

NomNom whistled. "You mean the one that gave you the idea for the really amazing new move you pulled off last week? Engine, you've been holding out."

Tensei laughed. "Funny. You always say you already know everything about your quirk."

"'Course I do. But Metal's new bestie doesn't."

"The new sidekick Robin?"

"Yeah. He and the rest of his crew are pretty unexperienced in quirk variations. Katsu High really did good on their basics, but not so much on variable fighting."

Tensei hummed. "That's true. I'll take it up with the guys when they get back." He shot a grateful look to his colleague. "Thanks, Nom."

The woman grinned, pulled out a chocolate bar from her pocket and inhaled it, cover and all.

Tensei's smile slipped. "I swear you only do that to annoy me."

She smirked.

The rest of the walk back to the agency was spent in similar bickering. It was apparent as they entered the agency that MetalWork's group hadn't returned.

Lorus sat at the entrance, golden eyes taking in everything. He had the best night vision out of the Ingenium Agency sidekicks, and therefore was almost always active at night.

Ingenium sent him a wave and pushed inside while NomNom stayed to chat.

His first stop was the breakroom where he made himself a cup of coffee – a latte, of course. Extra milk. Espressos were monsters – and grabbed a slice of pound cake that always sat there, courtesy of NomNom's baking habits. Ingenium was supremely grateful she had those habits, even though he knew the only reason she even went with pound cake was because he loved them. She certainly didn't.

With his gold in hand, he went to his office, put down everything on his table, and sat down to enjoy his rest.

Halfway through his downtime, he pulled out his phone to see four unread messages from the one kid he'd just been remembering, and one from his little brother. He opened the one from Tenya first, but sontrary to the [URGENT] typed in the header, it was just a reminder for tomorrow's family dinner.

Tensei snorted. As if he would forget. Okaa-sama had reminded him off it twice every day since it had been planned – Himari was coming over. She was the daughter of Okaa-sama's friend, and she'd come over before, wooing his mother with her _charm_ and_ grace_. Okaa-sama was intent on having her as a daughter-in-law, even if Tensei had told her he was going to focus only on hero work for a while.

He shook his head and swiped. Quirky's message, then.

'_Ingenium-san, I'm sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to see if you could help me with something.'_

'_I'm going to improve my video production quality with the help of Daisuke-san and Kyo-san, and I wanted to do a special video to introduce their help. I thought of doing an analysis of the Caper Queen, but I already did one of a female villain already, and I think it had a lot of impact, but that also reduces the impact for this video, I think? So I thought of doing something different, and I came up with the silver age heroes! The ones who died in the line of duty, I mean. Analyzing their quirks won't really give them trouble, and I thought maybe this way I could also give people appreciation for them? Because I did a bit of research and not a lot of people know about them, only the archives and-_

'_Aah. Sorry. I rambled a lot… I was wondering if you could give me an opinion on this? If you're not too busy.'_

'_It's perfectly fine if you're busy, though! Please don't waste your time on this if you have plans. I'm sorry!'_

Tensei chuckled. Quirky, as always, put too much importance on him. On any hero, he would guess.

He mulled over the content of the second message as he chewed on the last of his cake. Daisuke? Didn't Mirio mention a friend with that name? He shook his head. Wrong thing to focus on. He read the message again. Silver age heroes, huh? Not a lot of them were in the limelight, but Tensei's parents had told Tenya and him a bit about heroes from their time. They'd always seemed like a far-off tale, and there hadn't been many videos of them, to boot. So both of their interests had shifted to the new age heroes, especially All Might.

But those old-time heroes had paved the way for the ones that dazzled the society today, and Tensei was only now finding out the deep importance of a solid foundation.

'**That sounds like a brilliant idea, Quirky. I hadn't thought about it, but the concept is sound. I'll be looking forward to the new video! And maybe you can continue to do it in-between villain episodes as a bonus episode? Perhaps every five or ten episodes?'**

He shook his head. Quirky would go all out on this, and he got to watch from the front seat.

* * *

Alright. So. As of now, 1st and second options of the poll were winning (I'm including those who voted in my AO3 poll too), with [No OFA but still UA] winning with 18 votes, and [OFA and UA] lagging with 13. I edited the poll so only these two options are left - i discarded the last one as it had only 5 ish votes.

The link to the poll is in my Profile! But you guys can vote in the reviews too.

I'll leave this up until I actually get to the UA arc. As for now, I'm still one and a half, two years behind it.

Gosh, do i have plans.  
I apologize in advance for any future tears.

.

Okay, I lie. I adore inciting sobbing. I am a devil :)

P.S. I am in love with everyone of my commentors and Kudos people. I AM AWED.


	12. Wonder-ful Times

**New chapter! Be warned, if you do not want to read the sort-of transcript of the Quirky Video - well, part of it, at least - that is in italics and you can skip it.**

**And no, I do not regret putting this one in. Even if I am being terribly obvious.**  
**.**  
**.**  
**.**  
**I wonder what consequences this little gem of a video will have? [Evil Smile Implied]**

**In other news, I completely imagined Izuku doing the All Might pose and accent with that 'I AM HERE' moment.**

* * *

'_Hey.' _The voice was more confident and mature and had a slight ring to it that melted with the music that thrummed in the background. _'This is Quirky Analyst, and I'm back from my surprisingly long break. Haha…'_

The voice trailed off before regaining steam.

'_I apologize for taking so long to post a new video, but the comments had me thinking. My production quality really was low, and I decided to improve on that, so I got help from a few friends; Daisu-321 and Kyo2. Kyo2 runs a really cool channel where she posts mixtapes of amazing soundtracks, if any of you care to check out. It has only a few for now, but I am a hundred percent sure she will build up on them, and they will be amazing._

'_I, uh, also wanted to say thank you to Ingenium for promoting my page. You're an incredible hero and I know you're going to continue being one of the best. Also, I present thanks to every person who supported m- my analysis. Thank you for, for, well, sticking by me and being awesome people. Especially… ah, Quir- Quirky for the win,' _The blush could be heard in his voice. _'The name's… Thank you for staying from the beginning. Your support really helped me.'_

There was a pause and the words on the screen, 'Analysis in Essence' faded, letting new letters slam into place. **'No. 10 – Wonder'**

'_Since this is the tenth video I'm posting on Analysis in Essence, and also the first I'm doing alongside Daisu and Kyo, I decided to go on a bit of a different path than I was on. I said I wouldn't post any videos of heroes, but I realized something – there are heroes who died in the line of duty. Those who lived long before you and I; heroes of the old ages. The heroes who helped build up today's society by laying down a foundation that have made the heroes of today prosper._

'_I- I've never thought about those heroes before, not until All Might mentioned an old hero, Wonder, who encouraged, um, inspired him to keep on smiling, to keep on protecting._

'_The Wonder furor died down after a few weeks, but the memory stayed stuck in my mind. And now, in honor of All Might, I present my first analysis video on the heroes of old.'_

The title vanished and was replaced seamlessly by a picture of a beautiful, dark haired woman in a hero costume. She had a cape flowing behind her as she smiled into the distance, unaware of her picture being taken.

'_Won- Wonder was a hero who, according to both All Might and her former hero associate, another silver age hero, Gran Torino, loved to smile. She held the policy that heroes don't just save people from physical harm, but from the fear in their hearts that comes in the midst of dangerous situations. This policy seems to have defined Wonder for the entirety of her hero career, because although she wasn't as well-known as some other heroes, the documentation I did manage to find on her was filled with memoirs of people she saved; all of them with a smile that gave them hope._

'_Haha, I guess that's where All Might got his 'I AM HERE'._

'_Wonder's quirk, on the other hand, seemed to be a mutation between two quirks; flight and strength enhancement. Although there is no official documentation regarding her quirk specifics, I'm leaning more towards the strength enhancement idea, because while flight can't give way to strength in any of the quirks I researched on, strength might give may to momentary flight, especially if it was a stockpiling quirk…'_

* * *

The chimera watched the brilliantly executed video with a spark of curiosity in his eyes.

When Ingenium had proclaimed the quality of the analyst, Nezu hadn't been interested. Of course, he had known, because he made it his business to know everything he could, but he hadn't really focused on it, for Quirk Analysts were fairly common in the world. They had to be, to match up the requirements forced upon society. Many of them, though, were overworked quirk counselors who wouldn't have the time to present more than a basic structure of a quirk and had lost the creativity to improve upon with. The private analysts were almost always selective and expensive, and therefore pointless to collaborate with.

And yet, a student at his school had started to portray a large degree of progression that would have usually been impossible. Nezu had looked into it, and Togata turned out to have interned with Ingenium. And Ingenium had just promoted the Quirk Analyst.

Nezu hummed.

Everything led back to the Quirk Analyst. Quirky was a child, Nezu was sure, and yet he seemed to be highly intelligent – more so than many adult humans Nezu had had the displeasure of meeting. An analysis quirk or a special intelligence quirk? It wouldn't be apparent until he talked to the child in question, of course, but now, his attention was hooked.

He would get this child in his clutches no matter what. The world was already lacking intelligent humans; it wouldn't do to lose one more.


	13. Where Nezu Gets What He Wants

**In Which Nezu is a Cheerleader and still maneuvers Izuku. **

**Or, In Which Izuku learns he has lofty inspirations and impossible goals, but is willing to work towards them anyway, becuase he's always done so.**

* * *

Izuku beamed at his mother as she put a plate of Takoyaki on his desk. She was always saying he needed to eat up, and as of now, he agreed with her. All this excitement was leaving him famished. "Thank you, Kaa-chan!"

Inko smiled and ruffled his hair. "You need to eat more, Izuku."

He blushed.

"How's your business going?"

He brightened. "It's amazing! Ingenium already recommended three other pro heroes for my analysis and they contacted me! Two of them wanted a trial analysis first, of one aspect of their quirk and that was pretty interesting because I haven't really ever done any analyses of singular elements – I've only ever done it completely, so it was a new experience and I got a really great idea! I could use this to further detail my explanations, because if singular aspects of quirks can be analyzed and used to construct various moves, then it would give heroes an even greater arsenal against villains." He grinned widely at Inko. "Selkie and Diamond head decided to take the full package after that, and Enigma asked for the full analysis from the get-go. She's Ingenium's sidekick, so she probably didn't need proof." He began to vibrate in his seat. "It's so _fun_, Kaa-chan!"

Inko's lips trembled, and she burst into tears, pulling her son into a hug. "Izuku!"

"Kaa- Kaa-chan?!"

"These are happy- happy tears!" She answered between gasps. "I can't believe my Izu-kun is finally growing up!"

Izuku turned red, but his hands automatically wound around his mother. "… Thank you, Kaa-chan."

His computer beeped.

Inko stepped back, sniffing. "You're my little boy. I will always support you. I only wish…" She shook her head. "Go and see to your work now, Izuku. I won't disturb you anymore. Dinner will be at eight, okay?"

Izuku nodded.

Inko smiled tremulously, walking outside, and shut the door behind her.

Izuku's eye burned.

The computer beeped again.

He inhaled deeply and turned to the screen. Like Kaa-chan said; it was time to go back to work.

A new person had messaged him, a user named Dog-Mouse-Bear. It wasn't an official use username, so it couldn't be a hero asking for an analysis. Plus, he had decided to work by referral, and since neither Ingenium, Mirio-san or any other of the people he had analyzed for had told him of a new customer, he was stumped.

He clicked open the message.

'**Good Afternoon, Izuku-kun.'**

'**How is your analysis business?'**

Izuku froze. No one in real life knew he was Quirky other than his mother… right? So how did…

His heart rose to his throat. _'Who…'_

'_Who are you?'_

'**I could be a dog or a mouse or a bear!'**

What?

'**Apologies for the joke, Izuku-kun. Togata-kun informed me about you.'**

His heartrate slowed. _'But- How do you know who I am?'_

'**I have a version of an intelligence quirk. It was simple for me to ascertain your identity. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.'**

'_Oh.' _Izuku blinked. An intelligence quirk? But what kind? He probably _had _left a digital trail leading back to hid identity, so was it a computer related intelligence quirk? But no… the way this person talked of it seemed different. So was it an intelligence quirk that allowed him to easily learn computer mechanics enough to find him?

'**You haven't replied, so I assume you are theorizing about my quirk as you're still online.'**

Izuku flinched. This person was dangerous… Did Mirio-san even know him, or was it all a production of his quirk? And if he could tell that Izuku was thinking about his quirk, he must be good at reading people, too.

Just _who_ was he?

'**Please, don't hold back. I would love to hear what you make of me.'**

Izuku swallowed. Should he? What if Mirio-san really had sent him? And even if he hadn't, what he had though of until now… it wasn't enough to hurt anyone.

… Right?

He began to type.

Putting his words on the screen made them feel clearer to him, but he let them stay jumbled as he sent them to the stranger, shifting a clearer copy to the side in a separate document, wherein he kept adding more elements of quirk theory that jumped into his mind, ready to be analyzed and addressed.

Dog-Mouse-Bear was quiet for nearly a minute after the message.

Izuku waited with bated breath.

'**Izuku-kun,' **The message typed out. **'I am very impressed!'**

'**You skillfully captured much of my quirk from the small hints I provided. Ingenium is correct – you are a worthy analyst.'**

Izuku blushed. _'You… also know Ingenium?'_

'**Even if I did not, he presented your skill for the world to see.'**

Izuku darkened further.

'**What do you want to become when you grow up?'**

Izuku's hands stilled over the keyboard. What? Where did this come from? What he wanted to be when he grew up?

… Well, there was only one answer, really.

'_I want to be a hero.' _The text was sent with unconsciously typing fingers, automatic and without regret.

'**How do you plan to do that without a quirk?'**

Izuku's hand slipped and slammed on the keyboard. A string of illegible letters stared back at him, unsent but an accurate reflection of his mental state.

Logically, he should have known. If this person knew he was Midoriya Izuku, he would have known he didn't have a quirk. It was written in his files, in his social life, in the way the people around him treated him – either like he was a fragile creation on the verge of breaking, or an abnormality unneeded in the world.

'… _I will.' _He wrote after a long while, his entire body trembling but his will unshakeable. He had been told his entire life he couldn't be a hero. What was another nay-sayer? _'I will be hero.'_

'**Oh, I have no doubt about that, Izuku-kun. I only wanted to know how you plan to do that. Which hero school will you use as a steppingstone to your future? How will you defeat the dissenters who would seek to destroy your career merely because you are different from them? What will you do to become more than the title of 'useless' that has been taped to your temple?'**

_Oh, I have no doubt about that…_

_No doubt…_

'_You believe I can be a hero?'_

'**Any child with a brain as yours has the capability. Will you use it is the question.'**

His brain. His analysis ability. His _capability to become a hero. _

He had been told that. Kaa-chan had. Ingenium had.

So why was it, that finally, he believed someone who said it? Someone who he didn't even know?

Yes, he had an intelligence quirk, but his mother and the pro-hero weren't lacking in that aspect either. So why…?

Why would his heart believe a stranger when he said it and not them?

…

Because a stranger didn't know him. He knew of him, of his quirklessness that Ingenium didn't know about. He didn't know him and didn't care what his feelings were, like Kaa-chan did. He didn't care, didn't know him, and knew his darkest shame. All that… and he still believed he could be a hero.

Izuku began to sniff, rubbing his hands over his eyes in a futile gesture. They stopped, after a while, but the words had already embedded themselves in his heart.

'_I will. I'll use anything I can to become the hero this world needs.'_

* * *

On the other side of the screen, Nezu grinned. This child – for indeed a child in both mind and body – was bright and precocious. And he wanted to be a hero.

How incredibly lucky.

'**Which school do you plan to apply to?'**

The child began to type. Nezu shook his head slightly – he would have to train a bit of distrust in the boy.

'_I've always wanted to go to UA.'_

Of course he did. Every aspiring hero did. Ninety percent did not get in – the acceptance rate was brutal, as he very well knew, for he had been the one to suggest such a format – but this child… Perhaps he would be unable to get in through the heroics exam, but the general department was very high level as well, and the boy's intelligence would make it an easy target. He would then be able to groom him to his heart's content; perhaps he would even transfer to heroics later on. Or serve as Nezu's apprentice. Ah, that sounded very desirable as well.

Well, they would see.

'**How lucky. I happen to teach at UA.'**

'_cvVFEQ MakjD'_

'_WHAT?'_

There were a few seconds of blank screens, and Nezu laughed.

'_I'm so sorry! The random letters were a mistake.'_

'_Are you really a teacher at UA?'_

'**Of course. Feel free to seek confirmation from Togata-kun.'**

'… _I can't believe I told a teacher from UA that I wanted to go to UA.'_

'**More than fifty percent of the population of middle school students have hope to get into UA. Not everyone applies, but a lot of children see this as an ideal.'**

'_Oh. I didn't know that.'_

'_Thank you, sir, for saying I have the potential to be a hero.'_

'**Brilliant. Now, Izuku-kun, I have a job for you?'**

'_What-'_

'_What kind of job?'_

'**Analyses, of course. That is your business, correct?'**

'_Um. 'Analyses', plural?'_

'**Yes. I want an analysis of all my students.'**

'_ALL of them?!'_

Nezu grinned at the panic, a glint of challenge entering his eyes. **'Of course. Can you not do such a simple thing? I will, of course, give you the entire summer to fulfil this request.'**

'_But!'_

'_UA has more than 200 students in any given year!'_

'**Ah, I only want you to commit to the current second-year students. There are only 215.'**

'…'

Nezu began to do his paperwork. The answer would undoubtedly take a while.

* * *

_Two-bloody-fifteen?!_

The teacher was crazy.

Izuku flinched. He shouldn't call someone crazy. Especially not this person.

But two fifteen? How was he supposed to complete two fifteen repots of people whose quirks he had never seen in person, and whose quirks he hadn't been theorizing about for years in just a _few months? _Even if the teacher sent him the quirk details right now, the two extra months would mean little to nothing, especially with final exams in the second month.

He shuddered.

He couldn't. It was as simple as that.

He really, really couldn't.

.

.

.

He couldn't.

So why did he so desperately want to?

He sighed. Two fifteen students.

Guess he wasn't going to be sleeping for a long time.


	14. A Hint of Doom

**Chapter 14 - When everything starts tumbling down from its carefully constructed Jenga tower.**

* * *

The seventh holder of One-for-All. The seventh holder of the one quirk that denied him. The one quirk he couldn't get back.

All for One's eyes narrowed the slightest bit. No one could see it, of course. No one could see a lot of him, submerged and covered in his path to recovery as he was. But his eyes narrowed and Kurogiri, standing only a few meters away from him, shivered involuntarily.

"Sensei?" Tomura asked, his voice as childish as ever.

Kurogiri paused the video that ran on the battered television screen in front of them. It stopped on an image of the seventh holder of One-for-All, smiling in the only way that annoyed All for One to no end.

He forced his muscles to relax. "Yes, Tomura?"

"Why are we even watching this stupid video? We should be out there, razing the lying heroes to the ground!"

All for One inhaled deeply. Tomura's dedication to his goal was refreshing and entirely following his plans, but the intolerance in the boy was childish. Well, he admitted, he was still a child.

Nevertheless. "Patience, Tomura. The time will come for us to make our move." HE turned to Kurogiri, and the mist man played the video as if having read his mind. What a wonderful Nomu he had created.

The video spun through the remaining ten minutes, the small voice behind the connected images and animations washing through All for One's mind.

He smiled.

Finally.

He had seen many intelligence quirks in his centuries of existence – he _had _many intelligence quirks from his centuries of existence; one allowed him to function with multiple lines of thought; another allowed him to present his speech on auto pilot. Yet another gave him the ability to convince people with wavering wills of whatever he wished for them to do.

Words were a powerful tool indeed.

And yet, in his years of taking quirks and gifting them to willing underlings (and unwilling test subjects), he had never before encountered anyone with a quirk allowing them to analyze other quirks.

This ability, this power… He let out an amused grin. If he could grasp this Quirky Analyst, the hero world would be no match.

The child was able to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of even the seventh holder of One-for-All – the woman who was able to keep him guessing until the day of their last showdown. The child had been able to grasp the technicalities of the quirk with little to no information, for no one in the world suspected All Might of having the same quirk, so why should the child? And yet, his analysis of the techniques and strengths were flawless, even with minimum information.

And if All for One could convince this child to join his side…

Well.

And if he couldn't…

Well. There was no problem either way.

"Have the League find this analyst, Kurogiri, and bring him to me."

Kurogiri nodded.

Tomura, biting his nails raw as he often did in times of nervousness, yanked his fingers out of his mouth and scowled. "We don't need someone like that!" He announced. "I can do so much better. Sensei, lets destroy the-" Tomura fell silent, falling to his knees with a strained look on the visible parts of his face.

Kurogiri sighed.

All for One smiled and a child pervaded the room. "I said patience, Tomura. And if we succeed in claiming this child as the newest member of our league, we will have a greater chance to topple the hero society from the inside." He laughed, the hollow sound echoing through his chambers with a delight he hadn't felt in years. "You might even earn a friend, Tomura. Now, wouldn't that be nice? And I shall finally have a disciple for my role."

The last sentence was near silent, no doubt meant only for All for One's own ears.

Shigaraki Tomura heard and flinched. "… Yes, sensei," He said.

Kurogiri spared him a glance that held more emotion than a Nomu ought to have, but All for One was too wound up in his own glory to notice.

"Yes, Sensei." Kurogiri raised a hand, and the purple mist swallowed both him and Tomura.

All for One smiled. The gears were in motion. Now, all he had to do was wait.

All Might would see his world crumble in front of his eyes, and All for One would watch with glee.


	15. Where Fear Fears to Enter

**In which Izuku tries to punch fear in the face, and succeeds. Mostly.**

* * *

'_**This chat is bugging my phone,'**_Kyo typed. Her reply was, as usual, quick and precise.

Izuku frowned. He'd made the group chat to easily talk to both of his editors, and soon, he'd even started asking them about their opinions on analyses and heroes who he was interested in. Their replies were often different to the way Izuku thought, and sometimes pretty refreshing. They brought him out of the nitty gritty details when he was stuck too much in their grasp.

'_What do you mean?' _He asked.

'**I know what she's talking about.'**Daisuke answered before Kyo could talk. **'It takes so long to type, and a lot of stuff is lost in translation, so to say.'**

'_**I was actually going to say it's taking up too much space, but that works too. Why aren't we calling? We could make more progress and it wouldn't distract me from my studies as much either. Mom's driving me mad about my grades.'**_

'**Haha! I pegged you to be good at school.'**

'_**I am!'**_

'**And yet.'**

'_**Oh, shut up.'**_

Izuku bit his lip. Calls… they weren't meetings, or even face to face video calls. Maybe…?

But. Would they recognize him?

… Why would they, he asked himself? They didn't even know of Midoriya Izuku, let alone that he was him.

They didn't know he was quirkless.

He swallowed. Could he take the chance?

'**Anyway, moving past Kyo's denial, I think it's a cool idea. You up for it, Quirky?'**

'_**Hey!'**_

'… _I think so.' _

'_I think that would be fun.'_

'_**Great. Now can we please get done with today because I have a shit ton of schoolwork to go over.'**_

_RING._

_[Daisuke-san is calling…]_

Izuku jumped, only barely stopping his pone from falling.

_RING._

He swallowed. It was now or never.

He clicked on the green button. "He- hello?"

"Yo, Quirky!" A happy voice soared out, deep and growly, like puberty had hit early. It didn't suit the image Izuku had in his mind for Daisuke, and yet, it was ever so perfectly _him. _"Wow. You sound exactly like I thought you would!"

He laughed nervously.

"Obviously. You've heard him on his channel. What else would he sound like?" A girl, obviously Kyo, replied drily, causing Izuku to burst into giggles.

Daisuke gasped. "How you wound me! I'm dying here, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

Izuku laughed harder.

Daisuke groaned. "What company I have. Anyway, Quirky, what did you want to ask us, anyway?"

"Ah," Izuku swallowed, bringing his laughing under control. "S- sorry. Um, I was just…" He stammered to a halt, then took a deep breath, ready to continue. "I was just going to tell you guys about- about a new hero that debuted." He bit his lip.

"Well?" Kyo prompted after a second. "Shoot."

Izuku reddened. "Sorry, Kyo-san." He apologized. "Ah… it was Handmaiden, the psychokinetic Hero." He gulped down the anxiety that threatened to churn up his throat. "I- I thought she was pretty cool."

Kyo hummed, but Daisuke seemed to brighten, even over the phone. "I saw the news clip about her! Hado literally forced my hand, haha, but damn, the hero was awesome. Did you see the way she manipulated everything around the villain? He couldn't even move."

Izuku grinned. "Ex- exactly! She was amazingly mature in her movements and her control over her- her quirk was so cool!"

"Okay, down, fanboys," Kyo drawled. "She's just a hero." She waited or the noises of disgruntlement to come from both ends before speaking again. "But her control really was epic."

Izuku snickered despite the teasing. Kyo always did this, and they always fell for it.

"But. Now I need to do my homework." Kyo growled. "I hate homework. Why does Math exist? I can trudge through English well enough, but Math is a menace."

"English is cool, though." Daisuke pointed out. "Present Mic teaches pretty good."

Izuku sighed. "Aah, you get to meet so many heroes…" He muttered.

Daisuke laughed. "That's pretty fun, yeah."

"Any-anyway, Kyo-san," Izuku interrupted. "Maybe, ah, I could… help you?" He blushed. "I'm okay at math."

"Yeah? That'd be cool of you, Quirky." There was a bit of shuffling at her end.

Izuku frowned. Should he…? "I… uh, you can call me- call me… Izuku." He mumbled. "That's my name…" His voice grew smaller as he spoke.

Kyo's end of the receiver crackled. "Cool. I'll call you that, then. Call me Kyouka."

"And I'm Daisuke. Which you guys already knew."

Kyo- Kyouka snorted. "You play your cards too early sometimes."

"Rude."

"My pleasure."

Izuku beamed. They hadn't turned, not even for a second. They hadn't. They wouldn't… right?

"I sent an image on the chat," Kyouka said over what seemed like a forbidding silence to him. "I can do most of the questions, but this one stumped me completely. The teacher didn't explain it, either. Not well, anyway." She sighed. "Can you do it? Because I don't know if you covered it in your course yet."

Izuku blinked and brought up the picture. It was fuzzy around the edges, probably taken in a hurry, but the word problem was clear; twenty odd numbers and all. "Aah…" Izuku wracked his mind. "We- we didn't do a lot of it, yet, because a few kids fell ill and we were catch- catching up, but..." He looked at the question again. "I finished this chapter on my own during the break." He cocked his head. "I don't know if I'm right, though…. Daisuke, could you-"

"I'm no math whiz." Daisuke answered apologetically. "Middle school math left me when I left middle school."

"Oh."

"Remind me as well, though. I'm a hundred percent sure Sensei's going to give this in our finals just to spite me. He's evil."

Only pro-heroes taught at UA. What hero was evil?

Izuku shook his head. Daisuke was probably exaggerating. And humoring him. He hardened his resolve. He would have to solve this problem, then.

He began to speak, explaining details of mathematical and algebraic formulas that he barely understood. Surprisingly, when he began to describe, the details began to clarify in his mind, turning into structured blocks of information rather than something he had read just recently in the hopes of fulfilling his course work early to get more time for the work he had been hired for.

At the end of their impromptu study session, three questions later, Kyo hummed. "You're a pretty good study partner, Izuku. Wouldn't have guessed it. I thought that new quirk analysis client was keeping you up a lot?"

Izuku laughed nervously. "Ye- yeah… He did give me a lot of quirks to sort through. But I'm mostly just… er, leaving the actual analysis for the summer. Right now, I'm only categorizing them acco- according to their elements. A lot- a lot of them are actually similar!"

"The guy is savage," Daisuke agreed. "But good luck anyway, kid."

"Yeah. Your analysis isn't bad," Kyouka concurred. "But three months is definitely too little time for so many."

Izuku perked up. "Ah- About that, Kyouka-san! I was- I was wondering if you would like me to do an analysis for you?"

Kyouka fell silent.

Izuku flushed. "If you- if you want to. It's for free, of course, and- er…" He rubbed the back of his neck.

"You've a got a lot on your plate already, Izuku. You don't need to do an analysis for me."

Izuku frowned. "But… you've done so much for me, and I thought… well, I thought this might help you because- because you wanted to test into the hero course…"

Kyouka huffed. "You're already paying me, man. There's literally nothing you owe me."

"But-"

"How about you bring it up after this entirely too big analyses order of yours?" Daisuke suggested. "Then see if Kyouka wants the analysis."

Izuku rolled the thought over until it hit the right buttons. "Okay. That- that sounds alright."

Kyouka sighed again, loudly and intentionally this time, it seemed. "Alright. Well, I'm out. Mom'll call me for dinner in a few minutes, so I need to go downstairs so she doesn't yell." She huffed. "Her screams are terrible. Bye."

The call cut short.

Izuku swallowed. "I guess… I should be going too?"

"Wait." Daisuke called and Izuku put the phone back to his ear. The older boy seemed to struggle with words. "The finals are coming up."

Izuku nodded. "For me as well," He added when it seemed as if Daisuke was waiting for him to speak. "I'll stop the- stop the account during that month."

Daisuke exhaled harshly, uncomfortably. "Yeah. Well," There was static from his end and Izuku's breath caught. "My grade dropped a bit in the mock exams, and I guess it's because I'm spending a lot of time editing your videos."

"I'm-"

"Don't apologize." He nearly growled. "Do you have any idea how quickly Hado and Togata are going to murder me if you do?" He scoffed mockingly, then laughed. "It's not because of you, Quirky. I just overestimated myself."

Izuku gripped the phone tighter. "… Are you going to stop editing my videos?" He asked in a small voice."

Daisuke's was laden with regret. "Yeah. Next year's going to be even tougher, so I wanted to be ready. I'll still work the summer, though," He reassured. "And I'll try to find you another editor. What do you say? Still friends?" His tone was flippant.

Izuku's heart took it seriously. "I wouldn't unfriend you because you stopped helping me!"

"I'm kidding, Quirky," Daisuke laughed. "I know you're a good person."

"Oh." Izuku stared at his black computer screen. Daisuke was leaving. Genuinely stepping away from this perfect bubble of happiness Izuku had made around them. Around himself.

He gulped down a sob. Daisuke didn't need to hear him crying. No one needed to hear him crying. "O- okay…"

Daisuke softened, and his voice lowered as well, becoming more of the voice Izuku had expected him to have. "I wish I could continue, too. It was really fun, you know? And I learnt a lot from your analyses – I'm sure the villains won't stand a chance once I become a pro hero!"

Izuku nodded and brightened. He was right in every way. "Ye- yeah!" He agreed. "You'll be an amazing hero."

"Amajiki will destroy this in seconds but thank you for my momentarily swollen ego."

Izuku laughed, then drifted off. He wrinkled his nose in thought. "… Could you teach me?"

"What?" Daisuke asked.

"Graphic designing," Izuku continued. "When you're free, I mean."

Daisuke hummed. "Sounds fine. You don't want a different editor?" He teased. "I knew I was too difficult to top."

Izuku nodded shyly, unable to say it aloud.

Daisuke laughed as if he had seen action. "Alright. Do you want to do screen share video lessons or meet up?"

Izuku couldn't breathe.

Meet up? With Daisuke-san?

… Would he stare at him with the same disgust Kacchan did when he found out he was quirkless? The same hate? The same disinterest?

He swallowed and his mouth flew open, ready to decline.

_STOP._

He did.

Daisuke wasn't like Kacchan, his mind argued. He was a hundred times better, more heroic. He was a hero-in-training and a hero-in-heart, and he was a friend.

(Izuku hoped.)

Daisuke… even if he would no longer believe he could be a hero after he found out Izuku's lack of a quirk, Daisuke would never treat Izuku like he was worthless, and that was one thing Izuku was sure about.

"I- would like to meet up in person," He answered, and his chest felt so much lighter than it had in near a decade.


	16. Friendship in all it's Truths and Lies

**Where Daisuke gains my favour and makes himself an important character. I do _not _use OCs a lot in fanfictions. I have no idea why he pushed his way into this one. But he did. And here you go.**

* * *

Izuku felt the world tremble under his feet.

It wasn't an earthquake and it wasn't a quirk. But the world trembled anyway, and his heart sped up by the second.

It was a Saturday, and he sat on a corner table at a small café near his school. He had started coming here to pick a dessert for his mother ever since he had begun to make money. Nothing fancy enough to put a dent in his newfound account, but something good, nonetheless. His mother deserved it.

But now, for the first time since he had discovered this café, he sat there, a lemon tart in front of him that he didn't have the appetite to eat.

He shook again, and the world shook around him.

_What had he been thinking?_

Meeting up with Daisuke was a colossal mistake. A travesty. A disaster.

He should just call and cancel right this second.

But what if Daisuke was already on his way?

Daisuke had helped him so much and now here he was, planning to inconvenience him yet again.

But better inconvenience him than let him meet someone who failed his expectations, right?

He inhaled deeply.

What was he supposed to do-?

"I thought you'd be panicking over here," A voice called, deep and _so familiar_. "Guess I wasn't wrong."

Izuku jumped, his plate of lemon tart bouncing away. "Da- Daisuke-san!" He yelped.

The older boy let out a 'whoops' and the plate, falling, stilled in mid-air before rising and settling back on the table. "Careful there," He joked. "Don't want our resident analyst with any injuries." He slipped into the seat in front of Izuku and grinned. Izuku's ears reddened, and he slipped back into his seat. "'Lo, Quirky."

Daisuke was almost exactly like he had imagined him to be. He exuded an aura of confidence and pride that even Izuku could sense – he was someone who was sure of his place in life, and confident he could fulfil his goals.

For a second, Izuku stared with wide eyes, because Daisuke reminded him of All Might.

Daisuke quirked an eyebrow, and Izuku winced.

"So- Sorry. Hello, Daisuke-san!" He looked down. "It's nice to- nice to meet you."

Daisuke nodded. "It's great to meet you too, kid." He beamed as Izuku looked up shyly. "You _are _adorable. Hado is going to be epic jealous." He laughed.

Izuku flushed red to the tips of his toes. He could feel the burn rush through his body, and he bet it could be seen on his face too. Now if only he had a quirk to hide his embarrassment…

He shook his head. There was no use lamenting over his own lack of a quirk. Not when Daisuke-san was here.

He brightened. "You used your quirk just now, didn't you?"

Daisuke nodded. "I did. I usually wouldn't have, but…" He mulled over his words.

Izuku frowned. "… I'm sorry you had to waste it on something stupid I did."

Daisuke's shoulders slumped. "Baka," He grouched, leaning forward to ruffle Izuku's hair. "It's not that. What I meant was, I _couldn't _have used it like that before now. My 'danger sense' allows me to control stuff only if I feel there is a threat to me in my current radius. So a plate breaking usually would've stumped me because it doesn't really hurt if the pieces don't stab you, and I was standing pretty far away."

Izuku's eyes glowed. "But since there's even a 1% chance that it could hurt you, your quirk activated!"

"Pretty much," Daisuke admitted.

"That's so cool!"

Daisuke burst into laughter. "Quirky, you are literally the one who came up with the idea. _I_ should be the one saying it's cool."

Izuku blushed again. "Daisuke-san…" He mumbled.

Daisuke only grinned.

Ten minutes later, after Izuku had finally calmed enough to talk evenly with Daisuke, and Daisuke was sipping a caramel macchiato – and making faces at the level of sweetness while at it – he tilted his head and stared at the younger boy. "I've talked a lot about me and UA, so what about you?"

"Um… I'm not really that interesting," Izuku answered, eyes flickering away.

"Really?" Daisuke asked, his voice teasing and light-hearted. "I find that hard to believe, kid."

Izuku looked down.

"… I'll let you keep your secrets," He continued, the smile never leaving his face, even as a hint of tension climbed up his spine. "But you've got to tell me before Hado, right? I want to lord it over her."

Izuku yanked his head up to look at his companion, teary eyes trying to keep in the pain that he had never thought he would ever have to show. The pain he thought he had well in hand.

A pain that made Daisuke's mouth tighten and his fists clench under the table.

They stared at each other like that for well over a minute; Izuku trying to keep in his sobs and Daisuke trying to let him know he didn't have to.

In the end, after waitress stopped by and deposited a milkshake on Daisuke's side, breaking the exchange, Izuku looked down and scrubbed at his eyes. "I'm… sorry," He mumbled. "I didn't mean to…"

Daisuke hesitated. Should he get up? Try to calm him down?

Did Izuku even want him to?

But it was too late, and Izuku was already looking up.

His eyes were impossibly large and still not a hundred percent dry of tears, but he had composed himself, and Daisuke let the hardness seep from his shoulders.

"I'm okay," Izuku said without prompting. "I- I didn't mean to cry, so I'm so- sorry, but-" He swallowed and bowed his head in the small space. "Thank you, Daisuke-san."

It was his turn to be befuddled. "For what, Quirky? I should be the one thanking you. You've done so much for Togata and the rest of us." He quirked his lips. "Hell, if it hadn't been for you, I'm pretty sure the gritty details of my quirk would still be lost on me, ha."

Izuku reddened. "Um."

Daisuke laughed.

Then the younger boy shook his head. "N- no. I mean… thank you for being my friend, Daisuke-san." His lips trembled. "I've never…"

Daisuke straightened, the milkshake in front of him melting and nearly forgotten. 'Never'. Why would Izuku not have friends? He was one of the sweetest kids Daisuke knew. More than sweet, he was a goddamn _angel_. A 'treasure'; if one were to borrow Hado's words. Togata adored him, and the rest of his friends did too. Hell, _Ingenium _adored him, from what Togata told their group.

So why in all seven levels of hell did Quirky not have friends?

His muscles tightened, but he didn't let it show on his face. "Thank you for being mine," He said instead. "Let me lord this over Hado too, yeah?"

Izuku burst out laughing.

Daisuke grinned.

"You- you like to tease Hado-san, don't you?" He asked brightly, his smile as bright as the sun outside.

Daisuke would need sunglasses if this was going to become a regular occurrence. "Well, Hado is significantly hard to annoy, so I have to make do with what I have."

"O- oh," Izuku stumbled. His eyes seemed to hold something – a memory, maybe. A fear. "Do- do friends tease each- each other a lot?"

Daisuke's eyes narrowed. Izuku was staring at a spot of the table almost religiously, as if that spot held the most interesting thing in the world. "It depends," He answered carefully. "On if the person you're teasing finds it funny. If it hurts them, it's not teasing anymore. It's… bullying." Because harassment was too strong a word.

Izuku seemed to flinch, near imperceptibly.

Daisuke's mood darkened. Whoever hurt this kid was going to have hell to pay. From Daisuke _and _all his friends. "Izuku…" He began, using his name for the first time. His own discomfort over using given names didn't matter – seeing Quirky smile did. "I know you don't want to tell me, and you don't have to." Izuku's eyes widened. "But if someone treats you like that without your consent, that's not a friend. And you don't have to stay friends with someone who treats you badly. You have other friends, kid. You have me, Hado, Togata, Amajiki. Even Ingenium."

Izuku sniffed, pulling up his hands to wipe at his face.

Daisuke slumped.

"Tha- thank you, Daisuke-san…" Izuku said amidst soft sounds of falling tears. "I di- didn't know-" he looked up, eyes filled with a joy he hadn't known he could feel and smiled a watery smile.

Daisuke snorted. "You cry a lot, don't you?" He raised an eyebrow. "And don't you dare apologize. It was just an observation." He sighed, leaned over and ruffled Izuku's hair. "This was heavy," he murmured as he pulled up his milkshake to swallow a sip.

Izuku smiled tremulously. "I'm sorry… we couldn't even talk about what we came here to talk about."

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "No apologizing," He admonished. "And it's fine, isn't it? We can start at our next meeting." He grinned. "Besides, it's easier to teach someone I know. Though I don't know if I can teach at all."

Izuku smiled. "I'm sure you can do anything, Daisuke-san!"

Daisuke smirked. "I don't need a lie detector quirk to know _that's_ a lie, Quirky."

Izuku brightened, exactly like Daisuke had been expecting him to. "Do you think they would though?" He babbled. "Capture a lie someone thought was the truth, I mean? Even for something objectively incorrect? Like, a blind man believing the sky is red because they were always told that, so if they say the sky is red, and they think that's the truth, would the lie detector quirk recognize it as the truth? When the person with the quirk knows it's a lie-" He bit his lip and stopped. "Um… I'm so-"

Daisuke put down his milkshake. "Now you've got me interested Quirky." He interrupted. "Tell me more?"

The smile he got in reply was a hundred times better than the free time would have been.


	17. Cyber Security and Toshinori's Dilemma

**To be honest, this chapter is a mix of my wanting to scare Toshinori, and also to set up some stuff for the future. It's also pretty recently written. Like, yesterday. So it is short.**

**My abject apologies.**  
**In other news, the Poll is over! I'll tally up the results and present them in the next chapter.**

**And one last question to my friends who read this work of mine:**

**What do you think will happen to Izuku when he finally _does_ reach UA?**

* * *

"All Might, please tell us about your villain apprehension yesterday!"

"All Might, could I-"

"All Might! Please-"

All Might's smile wavered for a small second. The time was ticking down – he had only fifteen minutes left until he would forcibly be transformed back into his 'Yagi Toshinori' persona, and these reported seemed to have no intention of letting him go. "Er-"

"Excuse me, All Might, sir!" A younger voice called out, and All Might hesitated, blindsided by the fact that this wasn't a reporter. "Could you confirm if Wonder really had a strength enhancement or augmentation quirk?"

The excuse died on All Might's tongue. "What…?" He whispered, heart thumping louder than it had even when he faced All for One during their last battle. "Where- where did you hear that?"

The urgency in his voice spread out a wave of silence, and the crowd slowly turned to face the wide-eyed curiosity of a blue haired boy. "There's a new quirk analysis channel on herotube." He shrugged. "He did an analysis of Wonder and mentioned his reasoning for believing it to be strength enhancement rather than flight." He beamed. "So, was it? Quirky mentioned you were really proud of this hero and all, so we wondered if you knew."

Mutters exploded in the midst of the fans, quite a few of the civilians and reporters pulling open their phones to see.

It took all the ten minutes he had left for All Might not to flinch. "I must go, young people. Do not fear! I shall return soon." He turned, jumped, and ran.

Three streets away, he fell in a deserted alleyway and his transformation faded away, leaving behind a gaunt man with a terrified expression.

_Who was this quirky? _

How did he know of One for All? Maybe not in so many words, but…

He swallowed.

He had to contact Tsukauchi.

* * *

Naomasa Tsukauchi filled a cup with lukewarm water and passed it to his friend, pouring an ice-cold cup for himself.

Toshinori grabbed at it with both hands and stared at him with wide eyes and an anxious face that was so at home in his nearly destroyed body. "Did you find anything?" He asked.

Tsukauchi sighed and gestured towards his office.

The walk to the small, private room, though under two minutes, was fraught with a tension neither could rightly ignore.

Tsukauchi shut the door behind Toshinori and waited until he sat. "Quirky Analyst runs a page called Analysis in Essence, where he dissects the quirks of villains, both apprehended and on the loose. He claimed to not do heroes as it may severely impact their careers and give undue knowledge of their weaknesses to villains, which," He admitted with a smile. "Is very ingenious of the child." He walked to his own seat and descended on it, leaning back with the comfort of a friend's company. "Usually, only an analysis account wouldn't be cause to look into a person, but since you brought it into our attention, my people coupled the creation of the account with whispers from the underground, and it seems Quirky's analyses led to some… interest in the villains." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Cyber reassured me that his firewalls are pretty strong for a herotube account, at least right now, so I'm not worried about that, but…"

Toshinori wilted. "So there is no information on how this analyst knows of One for All?"

Tsukauchi shook his head. "I don't think he does, Toshi. The kid probably found some reports on your teacher and extrapolated, but I doubt he connects it to you, anyhow. Nor to a never-before-seen quirk that can be passed down." He added dryly.

Toshinori snorted. "… Thanks, Tsukauchi."

The detective beamed. "Of course." He raised an eyebrow. "And what about you? Have you found a successor yet?"

Toshinori drooped, yet again. "No," He answered petulantly. "I think I might have to accept Nezu-san's offer of employment if an idea doesn't strike me soon."

Tsukauchi grinned. "No need to sound so glum," He ribbed. "I happen to remember you adored your days at UA."

Toshinori shivered. "I think you're losing your memories in your old age, my friend. Gran was…" He gave a shudder.

For a second, both of them locked eyes, neither willing to back down.

Then they burst out laughing.

"Good times," Tsukauchi agreed. "Now, it's all work."

Giving a lopsided smile, Toshinori pushed himself off the chair with a wince. "I can attest to that," He agreed. "I shall see you at dinner tomorrow?"

Tsukauchi nodded. "I'll tell Asaya to keep your requirements in mind." His eyebrows wrinkled. "And I think Makoto will be there, but…" He shrugged. "Who knows."

Toshinori nodded. "I would love to meet Makoto-san and Asaya-san again." He waved. "Thank you for your help, Tsukauchi."

The detective nodded, muttering "No problem," as the number one hero disappeared out of the police station. Then he slumped in his seat, thinking on the bad news. The firewalls, according to Cyber, were new. They also originated from another source than the owner of the herotube account, if Cyber were to be believed. And fortunately for law enforcement, they were.

He sighed and stared at a dark spot on his polished wood desk.

That was where the bad news begun.

Since the firewalls had leapt up just recently, there was a chance that this Quirky had attracted the wrong attention and the 'wrong attention' had made their move before the firewall rose. Before Quirky had become one of the most protected herotubers on the internet.

He grimaced. The itch at the back of his mind intensified.

Time would tell, but waiting for something to happen had never been his strong suit.


	18. Miracle Moments Will Never Last

**Before I begin this unduly quickly posted chapter, a few words first.**

**First news - Although it was a relative landslide (difference of 8 votes - is that a landslide?), the poll god has proclaimed that Izuku shall not get One for All. Poor Izuku. Oh Well. I also need help deciding on Daisuke's hero name. Even though, well. Anyway.**

**In other news...**

**Bakeku67, I live to please. I already wrote this chapter before I saw your last comment, but... Well, read on to understand.**

** Yukistorm04, I hear you. I don't want the same old stuff either, especially since stuff happened earlier in this AU? Anyway, I wonder if your predictions will come true.**

* * *

They were in a park this time. It was the seventh time they were meeting, and Daisuke had already decided that Izuku was the peak of adorableness. This world could do no better – never mind the fact he didn't know every single person in the world.

They sat facing each other on an otherwise vacant picnic bench. Daisuke grinned at the excitable young boy as he gushed about some quirk he was analyzing in a depth Daisuke wouldn't have cared about. Well, not before Izuku, at least. These days, his mind worked to the tone of 'this quirk seems interesting. Quirky would think it goes…' with a filling in the blanks depending on each specific type. Even at pop quizzes at school, he was getting better at answering surprise situation analyses; it always seemed that he and Izuku had discussed it at some point. Then again, with how much they talked about stuff like this, he had no doubt they had. At some point.

He quirked a smile as Izuku unraveled and stopped to take a breath. "That sounds really cool. Do you think light refracting invisibility quirks can work on things other than the specific person?"

Izuku scrunched up his mouth in thought. "I guess it would depend on the quirk's specifications? Some would be able to, but that would work only if you controlled the refractions themselves and not the impact of those refractions on you. Then again, if you could control the impact, there's a possibility you could control the impact on others, so it ends up the same way." He scowled. "I wish I _knew_ someone who had a light refracting quirk."

Daisuke laughed. "I'll let you know if I ever find someone like that."

Izuku beamed. "Thanks, Daisuke-san!"

Daisuke rolled his eyes at the formality. The kid had gotten a lot more comfortable since their first in-person meeting, but the '-san' was something he was defiant not to lose. He hummed. "I bet you've got plenty of kids jealous of you at school, though," He murmured, and then closed his eyes for a second as Izuku inhaled sharply.

He hadn't meant for Izuku to hear him.

Shit.

"Quirky-"

Izuku's lower lip trembled, but this time, it wasn't because his eyes filled with tears. He shook, not with sadness, but with fear Daisuke could see reflected in his eyes. "I don't have a quirk!" He blurted. Hands rose up instantly to cover his mouth, but the damage was done.

In that moment, when the chirping birds and loud children playing around them faded out to a dull silence, it was hard to see who was surprised more at the admission that had involuntarily escaped Izuku's tight grasp.

The younger boy sat in stupefied alarm, his entire body trembling with uncertainty and confusion, too scared to move, and yet, desperate to run.

Daisuke almost couldn't breathe.

Quirkless?

What the hell?

Quirky, the absolute _god_ of quirks, was quirkless. Someone who, out of the entire damn world, adored quirks the most; someone who had the soul of a hero and the mind of a genius, was bloody _quirkless?_ Someone who was the nicest kid Daisuke had ever come across; someone who deserved a quirk _so much more_ than millions of others who abused theirs?

How in the bloody seven layers of hell did fate take away from this kid without feeling the guilt that even Daisuke was drowning in?

His breath caught.

_School._

Shit. Shit. _Shit._

Those effing _morons._ They were treating Quirky as shit on the basis of his quirklessness, weren't they? They were treating him as undeserving of life, of being in their bloody _shadows-_

His blood boiled and his quirk flared. He wanted to stomp his way over to Izuku's school this very moment and slam those utter idiots into the ground for how they treated someone who had near become a brother he never had. Someone who had helped him and his friends and was probably the reason they would be able to save more people than they would have had they never met him. Someone who was the reason they were on their way to becoming heroes faster than they had thought possible. Someone who was wowing _millions,_ and all without a…

A whimper climbed up through Izuku's throat and broke Daisuke's silent tirade. His eyes focused, and he stared as Izuku's eyes teared and his lips quivered. He was stuck in his position, unmoving even against the onslaught of dread.

He was terrified, and it struck Daisuke deep in his heart.

He pushed himself up and rushed to the other side of the bench, pulling his little friend into an enormous embrace.

Izuku was stiff.

Daisuke's arms tightened. "God, you're amazing."

Izuku let out a soft gasp.

"You're sitting here, without a quirk," He continued. "And you're outclassing every fricking other person. Your analyses helped Ingenium catch more criminals, and it's helping me and Togata and everyone else become better heroes. And you're doing it all without a single quirk." He pulled back and stared into his eyes to make him understand that he was serious. "You're amazing," He repeated.

Izuku burst into tears.

Minutes passed and Izuku kept sobbing into Daisuke's shirt, his breaking voice more hurtful to the older boy than anything he had ever heard.

He hadn't expected him to be quirkless. But damn him if he ever treated him differently because of it.

Izuku forced his cries to peter off, then peeked out of his burrow in Daisuke's chest. "… Do you really mean that?" He asked quietly, and Daisuke's heart broke again.

"Yes," He answered without hesitation.

Izuku trembled again, but this time, he buried himself right back, hugging Daisuke for all he could.

Daisuke let him – the pain he had seen in Izuku was much too real, and it wouldn't let up so easily, but if letting him cry it out could help for even a second, he was willing to be one he cried on.

His quirk flashed.

He frowned. He knew why it had acted up ten minutes ago – the danger he had felt to Quirky had sparked it into action. But right now?

His eyes raked across the five-kilometer radius, searching for answers, for the source of the very real _danger-_

His eyes fell on an unassuming figure sitting in the furthest corners of the park.

There was nothing to show he was the source. No suspicious gesture, no hidden faces, no overly large coat that signified 'suspicious' in the thousands of fiction books he'd read.

But his gut proclaimed the black-haired man was the culprit.

The man's eyes flickered, and his gaze swept over the park, resting for just a few seconds longer on Izuku's back.

At this distance, if he didn't have quirk enhancing his eyesight, he wouldn't be able to see Daisuke staring at him. He didn't.

But Daisuke saw him staring at _them._

Bile rose in his throat. Someone _was _following them.

He swallowed and flicked his hand. His quirk burned through his fingers, and a ball rolling on the ground nearest to the man pushed the slightest bit off course, landing at the man's feet.

A gaggle of children rushed to the ball.

The man rose and left.

Daisuke breathed out a sigh of relief.

Izuku jumped back as soon as Daisuke's chest heaved, face red and eyes clear. "I- I- I'm so sorry!" He squeaked, and the danger wafted away in the space of less than a second.

Daisuke grinned. "What have I said about apologizing, Quirky?" He reminded teasingly. "Besides," He added, ruffling his soft green hair. "I don't mind. You can cry on me anytime, kid."

Izuku smiled back over the shade of embarrassment coloring his face. "Thank you, Daisuke-san."

Daisuke nodded.

Izuku frowned. "Are you okay?"

Daisuke's eyes slipped and snapped back to Izuku. "Oh? Er, yeah, Quirky. Sorry. I thought I saw one of your fans, ha!" He plastered a happier smile over his uneasy one.

Izuku blushed. "Daisuke-san!" He whined.

Daisuke held out an arm, stepping away from the bench. "Should we head back to your house? We only promised to take a break for an hour."

Izuku jumped up and grabbed the proffered hand. "Yeah! Kaa-chan would be worried. And I really want to know how to balance the colours and visuals."

They fell in step together, ambling back to Izuku's house. "Uhuh. That used to be a bit iffy for me, but I know it pretty well now."

Izuku's eyes sparkled. "You were _bad _at something?"

Daisuke snorted. "I'm bad at a lot of things, Quirky."

Izuku ginned widely, and Daisuke had to spend the next twenty minutes dodging questions about what, exactly, he was bad at.

"Welcome back, Izuku, Daisuke-kun!" Inko called from inside the house as they entered, and Daisuke beamed.

Izuku's mother had the soul of a saint, and no one could convince him otherwise. (And the Katsudon she made was flawless, but that wasn't the focus of the argument.)

"We're back!" Izuku called, tugging Daisuke to his room, where they had been working on his computer.

Daisuke let himself be pulled past Inko and her smile as wide as her face.

His mood dropped a tiny bit – Izuku's quirklessness had probably affected her as well.

And yet, she hadn't caved to the pressure and social expectations. Here she was, an example of a better mother than so many could claim.

He shook his head.

This family were blessings on this earth, and karma was having fun playing with their lives.

Great. If only he knew someone who could manifest karma into a punchable form…

* * *

It was six in the evening when Daisuke finished with his latest lesson. It was a new experience, being a teacher, and it wasn't entirely bad. Of course, action trumped it every time, and the calmness of it was probably because he actually had a good student – he'd seen some of his classmates. Hell, he'd seen himself. And he wouldn't want to teach those types of kids – but still.

Inko tried to have him stay over the night – it was a Saturday, after all – but Daisuke shook his head. He had plans with Togata and Amajiki tomorrow, and he needed to complete a bit of homework before Monday.

So, with a "Goodbye, Midoriya-san, Quirky!" He exited the house, walking leisurely to the nearest bus station, which was around ten minutes away.

It was a calm night, really, as the sun disappeared into the horizon and the moon pressed out from behind distinguished clouds. A few people walked past him, and a couple across the street from him. The occasional car slid past.

His quirk screamed.

He stopped.

The world around him turned purple and swallowed him whole.

* * *

**:)**


	19. The Truth Comes Out

**Fallout**

* * *

Izuku frowned. Okay, so the lack of communication was understandable. Yes, he'd left quite a few messages for Daisuke, even a phone call or two. But the calls all played the same voicemail, and the messages came back unread.

_That was understandable_. The finals were right around the corner, and Daisuke was probably knee-deep in studies.

But.

Today was supposed to be their one last session before the exam furor started for real, and Daisuke wasn't one to forget something like this, right?

Something raw and sharp gnawed at Izuku's heart.

… Could something have happened to Daisuke? Was he in such a bad condition that he was unable to even reply to Izuku?

Or was he just angry at him for something he didn't realize he had done?

The second option was much more preferable of the two, Izuku admitted to himself. He loved Daisuke, but… but if it came to _his_ happiness and safety over Izuku's? Well. There was honestly no competition.

He switched his phone on again, flipping through the contacts he had until he reached Daisuke's. There were a few emergency contacts above it, but right below it was 'Kaa-chan's, and right under _that_, Mirio's.

Daisuke had given it to Izuku with a promise to call in an emergency, and Izuku had accepted it with a bursting heart.

_He had friends._

Of course, Daisuke told him that multiple times when they met, but it was still hard to believe, really.

He had _friends. _He, Deku Izuku, _had friends._

Heaven help him, there was no higher feeling of euphoria.

Then he remembered Daisuke's smile and heaven came crashing back down. He pressed call, and for a second, it rang.

_Trrrring._

That first ring was so, so misleading. And Izuku always fell.

"_Sorry, guys! I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message, yeah? I'll get right to it!"_

_Beep._

Izuku flinched.

He stood there, silent and unresponsive, minutes after the second beep came and left, ending the silent voicemail that Izuku was starting to feel Daisuke would never hear.

He shook his head.

_No._

Maybe Daisuke had just lost his phone? That was possible. He could've lost his phone and be unable to get a new one because finals, and-

'_Then why didn't he come today?' _His mind whispered traitorously, and it drifted along his skin like the barest of shivers.

'_He has friends. Why didn't he have them call you?'_

Because!

'_Maybe he's sick of you. Everyone gets sick of a Deku. You don't even have a quirk.'_

No! Daisuke was _not_ like that that! He was brilliant and nice and- and-

'_And probably in trouble, then.'_

Izuku gasped loudly and his phone fell to the ground with a clatter that made him freeze. It bumped into his collapsing mind and froze it, jumbling it up with a fury that didn't cease until the right combination was found, and he was him again.

But the thought echoed with the tenacity of a hero pursuing a villain.

Daisuke...

Izuku swallowed.

He had to… he had to call Mirio.

He knelt to retrieve his phone with quivering fingers, the lock screen an unholy mess of notifications. He swiped past, entered his password, and stared.

'_Mirio-san' _

It had 'Togata' when he'd first entered the number into his address book, but Daisuke had forced it out with an 'Oof! Too many names. Stick with one, Quirky.'

So Izuku had.

He swallowed the nervousness in his throat and wondered if Mirio would treat him with the same kindness that Daisuke had.

He shook his head. Mirio had been good to him even before he'd known Daisuke! Of course he'd be nice!

And if not… if not _nice, _at least he'd be kind enough to tell him where Daisuke was.

He inhaled sharply. He would gather up the energy for this, and he would do it _now. _This was not for himself; this was for _Daisuke. _

A person who, alongside Inko, deserved more than Izuku could ever give them.

This was for Daisuke. He would muster up the energy if it killed him.

He clicked call.

* * *

Mirio was staring at his ceiling, his eyes listless and confused. His arms twitched for _something_ to do.

But they had a holiday today.

A vacation.

A rest day.

It sure didn't feel like it.

He drew in a ragged breath as his phone rang. He considered letting it ring.

The tone, a tune from a movie he'd watched with Daisuke, Tamaki, and Nejire, was comforting and flowed over him strangely therapeutically.

He let out a huff. If only.

He forced himself up from the bed, his body heavier than he ever felt before, and pulled his phone from his bedside table.

Unknown number, huh?

He pressed answer anyway.

"Hello?"

The voice was small, hesitant, and nervous.

Familiar.

Mirio frowned. "Who is this?"

The voice inhaled slight. "I, uh… I'm Midoriya Izuku-" The voice seemed to reply in habit, but then stopped.

Mirio raised an eyebrow. He didn't know any 'Midoriya Izuku'. He would have hung up, too, if his mind hadn't shut him up.

"Uh… I'm- I'm Quirky? Quirky Analyst?"

Mirio's eyes shot wide open. _Quirky? _As in adorable-kid-Quirky-who-was-an-absolute-genius?

He relaxed and his first, small laugh of the day escaped, striking the pain of a rusting spear through his chest. "Quirky. What a time to talk, huh?"

Quirky seem to swallow on the other side of the phone. "Mi- Mirio-san," He began softly, and his voice seemed to become more nervous the more he spoke.

Mirio frowned. He'd known Quirky wasn't confident in himself, but Daisuke had said-

Daisuke.

"I- I wanted to ask if… If you know where Daisuke-san is?" Izuku's voice murmured with static. "I've been trying to- trying to call him, but he isn't answering, and- and he was supposed to come today fo- for one last lesson, but-"

Quirky- No, Midoriya Izuku, seemed on the verge of tears.

Mirio's own throat clogged. "Quirky…" He swallowed. "Daisuke is-" He broke off.

The kid's light gasp reverberated alongside the crackle of the telephone. "Wh- What? What happened to- to Daisuke-san?"

Mirio stared at the screen and breathed deeply. "Izuku," He began intentionally, the name putting a stop to Quirky's concerned muttering. "Dai… Dai didn't answer his phone a few days ago," He explained. "So Tamaki called me and we went over to his house. His mother was worried to pieces. We looked everywhere, but there's been no sign of him… The police are working on it now."

There was a sharp inhale, and then silence.

Mirio frowned. "Ingenium's also looking for him," He added.

Izuku didn't reply.

"Quirky?"

Shallow breaths filled the speaker and the shaking sounds of scratches filled Mirio's ear, until-

Until Quirky, with a small voice that bespoke more fear and blame than Mirio thought possible, spoke up. "… How long has he been gone?"

There was a heaviness in the air that clung to these words. For a moment, Mirio considered withholding the information. "Three days," He answered, pushing back the foreboding.

There was a loud screech, and Mirio pulled the phone from his ear with a wince. What the heck? "Kid? Quirky?" He called after the ring vanished.

There was a muffled thud-

And then a ringtone.

Mirio stared at his phone with wide eyes.

What the heck was going on? He knew Quirky and Daisuke had gotten close – closer than Mirio had expected with Daisuke's lack of delicacy, but they had. And of course Quirky was taking it hard, but he _hadn't _taken it that hard. Not until…

'_Three Days.'_

What had happened three days ago?


	20. Blame Control

**I am so sorry I've been so late! I finished a draft for this chapter weeks ago...**  
**But my Parents got fevers and quarrantined themselves and we had to wait a week before they went to get their Covid tests and we got the results. Thank fully they tested negative.**  
**But that really put a crazy stop to my explosion of writing, haha.**  
**Plus, I started writing freelance articles! I mean, it was only one, but still. Plus, it was through a friend, and I sort of want to shoot out on my own. Does anyone here know any freelancing websites that have a wide range of writing jobs? Like articles and such.**  
**Anyway, THANK YOU ALL FOR COMMENTING AND KUDOS-ING! AND STAYING HERE AFTER SUCH A LONG WHILE. LOVE YOU.**  
**(As always, constructive criticism is welcome.)**

* * *

"Are you okay?"

Flickering eyes. Distracted smile.

"Oh? Er, yeah, Quirky. Sorry. I thought I saw one of your fans, ha!"

Izuku breathed in raggedly.

Daisuke.

He had lied.

He had lied, and Izuku had known it and yet-

And yet.

Izuku had let him go.

"Are you okay?"

He hadn't been.

"Oh? Er, yeah, Quirky."

He hadn't been okay. And it was all Izuku's fault.

"I thought I saw one of your fans, ha!"

One of his fans… Izuku shuddered. Daisuke had probably seen someone aiming for him, and then stupidly stopped them. Because Daisuke was a hero.

He was a hero and one of the best people Izuku had met and now-

He sobbed.

And now he was gone.

"Izuku…?" A soft voice pushed past the door, never entering, but a hesitant worry that clashed against Izuku's guilt.

"Go away," He mumbled, burrowing deeper into his pillow, mind drowning in memories of Daisuke and the blame that came with them.

Inko, on the other side of the door, sighed heavily and stepped back, the plate of food in her hands going cold. Izuku had shut himself in his room for nearly two days now. He was barely eating. He spent the entire time huddled under a dark blanket, sniffing.

Usually, Inko would have pushed in anyway, and grabbed her son in a hug. She had tried the first day. But even that had served no purpose. Izuku had just cried harder, sniffed more, and mumbled out, "Daisuke- Daisuke-san is gone!"

And then he'd begun to cry again.

Inko swallowed.

She'd known Daisuke for less than a month, and known about him for just a few more, but…

But Izuku had bloomed under him. He had started to smile more. He came home from school happier. He looked as if a weight had dropped off his shoulders.

Inko loved Daisuke for that. And so, hearing that he was gone hurt her with a ferocity she hadn't even felt when Hisashi had left for America indefinitely. She could only imagine what Izuku was feeling.

She swallowed. What was she supposed to do? She'd felt helpless her entire life, never more so concerning Izuku.

But now…

At least now- no, especially now, she didn't want to disappoint her son. Not like she had when they'd found out he was quirkless.

She steeled herself and pulled up her phone. She didn't know what to do for Izuku, but she did know who to call. And if he were half the hero Izuku held him up to be, he would say something.

* * *

Accepting random calls from the public wasn't in Tensei's usual routine. It was definitely not routine when he was running ragged and on the verge of shutting down.

But when NomNom rushed in with an uncharacteristically solemn look and a mouthed 'Quirky's Mom,' he didn't hesitate.

"Er, good afternoon." He cleared his throat. "This is Ingenium."

The woman on the other end of the phone inhaled sharply. "Go- good afternoon, Ingenium-san," She answered in a soft tone that reminded Tensei of the warm summer afternoons he spent as a child with his grandmother. "… My name is Midoriya Inko, and I'm calling about my son."

Tensei snapped to attention. Quirky. "Is something wrong?" He asked, voice only barely under control. He'd promised Mirio he'd search for Daisuke, and the poor kid was already weighing on his conscience, but if something happened to Quirky-

Quirky's mother sighed. "He's… He's still here, but-" She swallowed, the sound crackling through the receiver. "His friend was reported missing, and I think Izuku might be blaming himself." She sniffed. "I'm sorry for taking- taking up your time, but I just…"

Tensei forced himself to relax. Why the hell would Quirky be blaming himself for Daisuke's disappearance? He knew that the kid had been receiving computer lessons from him since a bit after the whole cyberbullying fiasco (his blood had spectacularly boiled when he'd learnt of that, no joke), but why one earth would Quirky blame himself for some villain kidnapping Daisuke. He frowned. "Why does Quir- er, Midoriya-kun think this is his fault?"

Midoriya Inko huffed. "I don't know," She admitted. "Daisuke-kun and Izuku parted on great terms when he left our house after their last lesson, but two days ago, Izuku just called Mirio-kun and shut himself into his room."

Tensei's blood ran cold, his hand gripping onto the receiver much too tightly. "When did they hold their last lesson, Miss Midoriya?"

The other line grew quieter as if sensing the shift in tension. "Um… five days ago?"

Oh, damn. "Miss Midoriya," Tensei said with control he did not possess. "I must go. There has been a break in Daisuke-kun's case that we must follow."

"Oh, uh, of course. I'm so sorry for taking up your time."

Tensei exhaled lightly. "It was no problem. I will be getting back to you, ma'am. Thank you for contacting me. Goodbye." He clicked the phone shut and waiting, breathing once, twice, three times.

The excess energy in his body washed out, slowly.

He pursed his lips.

This was worse than Daisuke being kidnapped for random villain purposes they hadn't yet recognized.

"Metal!" He shouted, and the door flung open, his intern peering in carefully, NomNom at his side.

"Yes, Boss?"

"Inform the police that they should look at another angle concerning the kidnapping case." He grit his teeth. "Look for those who tried to access Quirky's account on Herotube, and villains who may be looking for him."

Metalwork's eyes grew wide. "You think they were after Quirky?"

NomNom frowned. "Why would they be after him? He's just-"

Tensei glared sharply. "A quirk analyst. Yeah. One whose analyses helped me capture actual villains. Why wouldn't they want to kidnap the kid?"

His co-workers flinched.

Tensei sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. Could you please just…?"

"Yeah, Boss."

"On it," Metalwork nodded.

"Thank you," Tensei said, falling back into his chair as soon as the two left. This was turning out to be a bigger mess than he had anticipated. He should have thought of it when he first stumbled over Quirky and his hidden talents. He should have thought of it when Quirky decided not to go public, citing the same reasons that were just now at the forefront of his mind.

He slammed his hand on his table, and the papers on the edge of it fluttered to the ground. Tensei couldn't be bothered to care.

This time, when the phone rang, it was his personal cell. He gave it a glance and frowned, because why would Mirio be calling? Tensei had told him he would inform him as soon as there were any updates on Daisuke's case, and Mirio hadn't called him once in the past five days, so why would he choose to now?

"Good Afternoon," He answered tightly.

Mirio's voice was just as tense. "Ingenium-san, I think Daisuke's abduction was worse than we think."

Tensei narrowed his eyes. "Quirky's involved."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the call. "How did you- Never mind." Mirio cleared his throat. "Dai gave my number to Izuku – that's Quirky's real name – and he called me up after Dai didn't arrive at their planned lesson. He didn't take it well, but especially not after I told him when he was reported missing."

"His mother just called," Tensei told him. "She said he blamed himself."

Mirio hissed. "Damn it!" He swore. "That's the thing, Ingenium-san," He continued. "Do you know of the huge order Izuku was commissioned?"

"The two hundred something profiles?"

"Yeah. It was Principal Nezu who did it, and he apparently loaded up these huge firewalls on Izuku's account right after he talked with, so the villains who were probably after him couldn't bypass them, and…" He hesitated. "They probably stumbled onto Daisuke's account and followed him."

Tensei closed his eyes and slumped back into his chair. "And thought he was Quirky."

"Or something." Mirio agreed.

"And now the real Quirky is beating himself over the fact that Daisuke-kun possibly got abducted because of him."

Mirio shuffled. "Do you… Do you think I should visit him? Quirky? I don't know if…" He sighed. "Dai probably wouldn't want him to blame himself."

Midoriya Inko's trembling words flashed by his mind. He swept a hand through his hair and sighed. "… I'll ask Midoriya-san for their address and pick you up as soon as I'm off duty."

"Okay," Mirio said. "Thank you, Ingenium-san!"

Tensei chuckled. "Call me Tensei, Mirio." And with a final goodbye, he hung up.


	21. Changing Lanes

**This one's a bit short, so I'm posting two this time around. Thank you for everyone who commented and kudos'ed, as well as everyone who just read, too. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my work. You guys are amazing and don't you dare let anyone tell you aren't just because you read fanfiction (The 'Not-actual-literature' club is terrible and arrogant).**

* * *

Naomasa did not have a habit of eavesdropping on his co-workers. This once, however, that was exactly what he had been doing. Unintentionally.

He fixed his frown into a neutral expression as he walked to his superior's office, his mind a muddle of theories and thoughts. He never liked it when his instincts proved correct, but in cases like these, he especially loathed it. This online analyst was spreading waves, and they weren't all good ones.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the Captain of the precinct stared at him with raised eyebrows, hands folded on his chest. "You're aware that Detective Arusawa is handling this? She specializes in missing persons cases."

Naomasa gave a brief nod. "Yes, sir. However, I am not asking to be handed the case, only to be kept in the loop. I have some concerns that this may be more than just a missing persons case."

The Captain sighed. "So you heard about the involvement of Cyber."

Naomasa gave a wince and a nod.

The captain laughed mirthlessly. "Of course you have. Fine, but I'm only allowing this because you were already onto this analyst before this all happened. Tell Arusawa to keep you informed."

Naomasa smiled. "Thank you, sir." He spun on his heel and left. Now came the discovery part.


	22. Waking Up In Submission

**What everyone has been waiting for. Or is it?**

* * *

His head was sluggish, and his mouth muddy and unkempt. Daisuke opened his eyes to a dark room, tied to a chair. Right in front of him was a door, but otherwise, the room was dull, barely the size of a small bathroom.

He blinked, trying to clear his eyes.

What the heck was going on? Where was he? The last thing he remembered was walking home from-

The purple mist.

He'd been abducted.

He swallowed the sudden fear that rose in his chest and tried to think like UA was trying to teach him to.

So, the villain had kidnapped him, either drugged him or used a quirk to put him to sleep, and now he didn't know where he was. Or how long he had been there.

Shit.

This was… nothing near to the scenarios UA had run through with them.

His heart sped.

Heroes were probably looking for him, though, right? Amajiki and the rest wouldn't let them not. Plus, his mother was meticulous in stuff like this. The police and heroes and everybody…

He flinched as the door swung open. A man stood there, immaculately dressed, though his body was a cloud of purple, which sort of defeated the purpose.

It was the villain who had taken him, Daisuke was sure. He bit the inside of his cheek and tried to flare up his quirk. There wasn't a lot in the room, but even the tiniest thing would suffice.

His quirk sputtered.

Daisuke inhaled sharply. "The fuck did you do to my quirk?" He growled, something deeply terrifying rising inside him. He had had his quirk since he was four, and it was as much a part of him as his sense of sight. It was vital and beautiful and so natural-

(And Quirky didn't have this very thing, his mind reminded him.)

The man stared at him quietly, then walked forward and lay a hand on his shoulder. For the second time in as many hours that Daisuke remembered, he was engulfed in a purple fog that swallowed him whole.

A second later, his chair trembled as it was set down on the ground somewhere very different from where he had first awoken. It seemed the purple guy's quirk wasn't, in fact, drugs, but teleportation. That just changed everything he'd been thinking of.

Damn it.

Daisuke coughed, taking the chance to observe where he was.

The room was large and dark. There was a television at one end and at the other, there was a large… capsule?

Daisuke frowned. It was big enough for a human, but…

His eyes fell on the long pipes that protruded from the contraption, and his suspicions confirmed. He'd never heard of something like this, someone like this, but there was no other explanation because no one else would need so much life support. There was a person inside that capsule, and with his luck, it was a villain who was supposed to be dead.

"Hello, child," A disembodied voice greeted, and a shiver ran down Daisuke's spine.

There was a hiss, and the capsule opened with agonizing slowness. When it stopped, five seconds later – seconds that seemed almost an hour – a hand reached out, grabbing at the sides of the machine to pull itself out.

The man who exited it was tall, with an unrecognizable face covered with a dark mask that connected to what seemed to be a thick machine positioned around his neck. He was armorless, sightless.

But not powerless.

There was domination in his very presence that forced away motion from Daisuke's limbs, and even if he could have, he wouldn't have been able to move from his place.

"It is only polite to return my greetings," The man rebuked, the silkiness in his tenor so enticingly powerful and terrible at the same time.

Daisuke's mouth unfroze. "H-" He swallowed. He, for a second, had almost done what he had told him to do. Was this how the villain forced people to do his bidding? Did he have a coercion quirk? "You're a- a villain." He said.

The man cocked his head, but the disapproval oozed out of him. "I am. Yet you still do not do as I say." He sighed, turning to the teleporter. "This is what the heroes have turned today's generation into, Kurogiri," He remarked, then shifted back to Daisuke and raised a hand.

Daisuke screamed.

The man dropped his hand. "Hello, child," He said again.

Daisuke blinked back his tears. His nerves shrieked at him like he had screamed just a moment ago. The pain… he had never- "He- Hello," He said back, flinching even as the words dragged themselves out of his mouth.

The satisfaction that permeated the room left Daisuke nauseous.

"Very good," The man said. "I don't see why this has to be any more difficult," He pointed out. "Do you?"

Daisuke grit his teeth. The half of him that mouthed off in front of teachers and authority figures, the half of him that wanted to be a hero, yelled at him to scream at the man. Go out with a bang and try to take these villains with him.

The other half, the half which remembered his mother, his father, his friends, Quirky… that half demanded he give in.

Survive.

"…No," He answered softly, his nails biting into his palms and his mind raging against his heart.

The man laughed. "Not difficult at all," He agreed. "Take him back to his cell, Kurogiri. I shall speak to him again once the quirk I used fades."

Daisuke was, once again, swallowed by the purple mist.


	23. Healing

**Sorry for the late update! Though I guess it's sort of in-character for me, haha.**

**I had a hard time writing this chapter. Mostly because I had it planned out. Weird story, but true.**

**But thank you, everyone who reviewed! You made me seriously want to finish this whole thing right now and give it to you. Unfortunately, I was unable to do that. Go figure. **

**But commencing Chapter 23...**

* * *

"Come in," Midoriya Inko told them the second they arrived.

She ushered them to her lounge, where she picked up a jug of water and offered them both a glass.

Tensei accepted it with a small smile that wavered on the edges. "Thank you for contacting me, Midoriya-san."

Inko's hands trembled, and she set down the tray, folding her arms to hide the shaking. "I…" She turned to look behind her, in the direction of what was most certainly Izuku's room and sighed. _"I _should be the one thanking you," She replied. "Both of you."

Mirio, nearly silent at his side, startled.

Inko blinked rapidly, then inhaled deeply, settling herself. "You helped Izuku be himself after- after I couldn't. You brought him out of his shell." She sniffed. "… I've never seen Izuku happier."

Tensei frowned. What…? But- "It was only because you raised him to be such a great person," He replied back, half courteously, and entirely truthfully.

Inko's lips trembled, but she didn't cry, only serving to flash them both a sad, tearful smile. "… I shouldn't hold you up," She said. "Izuku's in his room."

She spun and began to walk deeper into the home, and Tensei set down his drained glass and followed, Mirio at his heels.

Seconds later, Inko stopped in front of a door with an All Might welcome sign that, in other circumstances, would have made Tensei laugh. All he did now was grimace.

Inko turned the knob, and the door silently slid open to reveal a darkened room.

She stepped away, letting the two guests enter, then hovered in the doorway. "Izuku?" She called.

"… Yes?" A small muffled voice floated out from a mound of blankets on the bed.

Inko wrangled her hands. "You have guests."

There was no reply.

Tensei inhaled, then grinned full force and stalked closer until she stood a step away. "Evening, Izuku!" He boomed.

There was a sudden stillness, and then the blankets started to shift, a small head framed by fluffy green hair pushing out. "In- _Ingenium-san?" _Izuku yelped. Then he swallowed and tried to move back, but his hands were trapped in a prison of his own making. "What- what are you doing here?" He mumbled, looking down.

Tensei couldn't help but laugh as he sat down next to the child. "That's me," he agreed.

Mirio came forward and sat on Izuku's other side. "You hung up on me," He reminded. "I got worried."

Izuku flinched. "… Mirio-san?"

"Hey, Quirky."

Izuku burrowed further down into his blanket hole. "Go away," He whispered.

Tensei raised an eyebrow. From what he had gleaned about Izuku – and it had been a lot; the kid was an open book – the boy wasn't one to say something that could be taken rudely. And 'Go away' fell definitively in that category. "Why should we do that?" He asked, reaching up a hand to smooth Izuku's hair away from his eyes.

Izuku's eyes widened, and he stared at Tensei as if such an action was alien. "Wh- what?" He managed after a minute of recollection.

Mirio finished his work for him. "Why should we go away?" He repeated and stared at Izuku intensely.

Izuku trembled, the blanket hill vibrating with him. "Because," He sniffed. "It's my fault Daisuke-san is gone!"

Mirio inhaled sharply, then locked his jaw. "No."

Izuku shook his head, buried as it was alongside him. "It- it is! I... Daisuke-san was with me on the day he disappeared. He- he just dropped me at home and now- now he's _gone."_

Mirio exchanged a surprised look with Tensei, who pressed his lips together in grim certainty. It was true. It was precisely that.

"Daisuke-san was-" Izuku inhales deeply, seems to calm, and then continues. "He was distracted while we were walking back from the park and- and… and then he disappeared. He disappeared after leaving here, and he probably disappeared, trying to save _me _because he's _a hero!"_

The silence rang through the air like alarm bells.

Tensei's mind tried to swim through this as fast as he could.

But…

If Daisuke had seen something off-putting at the _park,_ that meant other people had, too. It also meant that the security cameras on the streets would finally be put to use, because-

Tensei flinched, as the bed rocked and threw him back into the present. _Izuku._

Mirio pulled up on the bed and began to peel off the layers of blankets that made up the mock fort Quirky had made. He did it with trembling fingers, slowly and resolutely. When the last layer pushed away from Quirky's curled up form – he was so _small _– Mirio pulled him into a hug.

"Not your fault," He murmured.

Izuku blubbered something that sounded suspiciously like a 'Yes, it is!'

Mirio ignored it. "It's _not _your fault, Quirky," He repeated. "Who knows what the villain was there for? And even if, for some stupid reason, they had decided to go after you, Daisuke being kidnapped was _not your fault. _It was the fault of the villain. It was the fault of the person who_ chose _to be evil."

Izuku whimpered. "But… If Daisuke-san had never met… me…" He mumbled. "He wouldn't have been in danger."

Tensei placed a warm hand on Izuku's back. "Daisuke was trying to be a hero, Izuku," He said softly. "Heroes always have a target on their backs."

Mirio nodded and pushed back to stare at Quirky, whose giant eyes were filled with fear and pain.

(And a tiny bit of hope.)

"You don't want Dai to be a hero?" He asked simply, and Izuku's eyes widened.

"What?" He gasped. "That's not-"

Mirio smiled. "Then don't say it's your fault. Even if the villains were after you, you gave Dai a chance to be a hero." He held out a hand, and Izuku hesitantly placed his own on it. "He's always wanted to be a hero."

Izuku swallowed, and a second later, threw himself at Mirio and Tensei. "…Thank you," He whispered.

They stayed like this for more than a minute, but that was more than enough, and when Inko opened the door and stared at them with the beginnings of hope, asking if they would like dinner, Izuku nodded. "I would, Kaa-san."

Inko's eyes filled with happy tears.

Mirio and Tensei grinned.


	24. Life Without

**I apologize for the WAY TOO LATE update, but I was focussing (still am) on a few writing competitions I am entering, so... Um. Anyway, please enjoy! This is another Daisuke Interval.**

* * *

The man had called for him again.

This time, Daisuke was ready. Or as close as was possible with these limited allowances.

Over the one day respite he had been given from the deafening presence of who was undoubtedly the leader, he realized that whatever these villains had done to his quirk had put them under chains so tight that he could not use more than a wisp. His reliable limb had been nearly severed and was hanging from a tendon. At least when Aizawa-sensei from that other class did it, it was a momentary thing – being bound up by ropes. Not being cut up by saws.

Still, his quirk was safe and inside him, and for that, Daisuke would continue to thank the heavens.

As Kurogiri entered and placed a non-existent hand on his shoulder, Daisuke steeled his nerves. The man he was being taken to see was powerful and terrifying, but what he had thought of his aims was correct…

He would not waver. Not when Quirky's life was on the line.

He was a hero.

He was a hero.

He swallowed and was swept up in the warper's quirk.

They landed precisely where they had the first time around. This time, however, the man was waiting for them. For him.

"Takahashi Daisuke," He said. "How wonderful to see you again."

Daisuke swallowed.

The man's eyes narrowed. "Have we not had this conversation yet?" He asked.

Daisuke flinched. "I- I don't know your name."

The man chuckled. "It does make for bad manners. Very well. My name, Daisuke, is All for one. You may call me Sensei."

Daisuke's mind raced.

"You won't find any mention of me in your recent villain compilations, child. I am not a villain, nor am I a young, misunderstood person seeking to change the world. I have come a long way for this. For my aim." He sighed and stood up, raising a hand. Kurogiri vanished. "Now, let us have a conversation."

The man walked forward until he was close enough that Daisuke could hear him breathe through the contraption on his face.

"Wh- why?"

The man chuckled. "Oh, it quite simple, really. You have knowledge about the quirk analyst, and I would like to borrow that knowledge."

Daisuke closed his eyes and inhaled. "Why?"

"Is that all you children are capable of saying these days? It truly is a sorry state those heroes have out you in, is it not?"

Daisuke shook.

"Who is Quirky Analyst?" All for One demanded suddenly, and Daisuke stiffened. "Tell me."

"I-" He swallowed, "I am."

There was a moment of silence, then All for One laughed. "What a deflection." He murmured, then walked a few steps back. "Please," He said, mockingly, ironic humor in his voice. "Convince me."

"I am." Daisuke insisted. "I just- I just hired another person, so record the videos and edit the audio because I had no time with my hero studies."

"Indeed?"

"Ye- yes. I analyze the quirks of the villains and send the details to the speaker, and he puts them together for the videos."

All for One stared at Daisuke for an entire minute.

Daisuke began to shiver.

The man smiled. "How amusing. You sacrifice yourself to protect another." His smile shifted to a growl. "Pathetic."

Daisuke's eyes widened, and he flinched.

The pain didn't come.

All for One walked forward and clasped Daisuke's chin, forcing him to look. "Child, you are a terrible liar. Tell me who the analyst is."

Daisuke tried to shake his head. "No."

The man squeezed tighter.

Daisuke winced.

"Very well." He let go. "If I cannot take the analyst's quirk, I shall take yours."

Daisuke's eyes widened. "What…?"

All for one raised a hand, and the one connection that was left was ripped apart.

Daisuke began to scream.


	25. Empty Within a Dying Soul

_Emptiness._

_He had never felt so empty._

_He was drowning and falling and dying in a thousand different ways._

Daisuke looked at the wall.

It was empty too.

Empty, empty, empty, empty.

Everything was EMPTY.

_Why?_

_Why did it have to be him?_

He sniffed and called upon his quirk-

It wasn't there.

He was empty.

Broken.

His soul shrieked with fury and pain. So, so much pain.

He wasn't- he couldn't-

DAMN IT-


End file.
